Anger as husband in transplant scandal told: your wife’s dead
NHS blunder heaps agony on victim of kidney swap
NHS bosses offered their condolences to the husband of a woman who developed cancer from a donated organ – despite her being alive and sitting beside him as he read the message.
Gordon Hunt, 58, said the email had caused him and his wife Pauline even more distress after what has already been a harrowing time for them both.
Mrs Hunt, 49, was diagnosed with terminal cancer after she received a new kidney from a donor which contained cancerous cells that spread quickly to her lymph nodes.
Mr Hunt said: ‘Not only have they managed to give my wife a deadly cancer, they can’t even get it right that she’s still alive. After what has happened, this seems almost wilful.
‘It has caused both of us more heartache and upset during what is already an extremely difficult time.’
Mrs Hunt added: ‘They might have given me a death sentence – but I’m not dead yet. I’m still here, fighting to stay with my family and loved ones for as long as possible.’
The insensitive mistake was made after Mr Hunt wrote to complain to the NHS Blood and Transplant service on Wednesday for what had happened to his wife.
He was left shocked when he received a reply from the service’s clinical governance support team, which said: ‘I am very sorry to hear of your wife’s death. Please can you send me your wife’s details below and I will forward on to the relevant team to look at your concerns.’
Mr Hunt said his wife broke down in tears when he told her about the message.
He said: ‘I said to my wife “you won’t believe it, I’ve just got an email back and according to them you’re dead”. The message said we’re sorry for your loss and your wife’s
‘I’m still here, fighting’
death and I was like “I don’t think so, she’s sat next to me”. Pauline was in tears when I showed her what had been said and she’s not been the same since.
‘It’s brought it all home to her just what she is facing.
‘They know she’s dying but they don’t need to have a bed just there waiting.’ The couple, from Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, have now had an apology from NHS officials.
Mrs Hunt received her new kidney last December at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glasgow. Within days she began suffering health issues, including blood clots and the deadly infection sepsis.
On February 7, she had more surgery and the donor kidney was removed, but tests later revealed she had cancer.
Mrs Hunt said she was told she was one of at least two people diagnosed with the disease after receiving an infected organ.
The couple married in hospital when Mrs Hunt was told she is dying from cancer.
It was revealed this month that Tom Tyreman, 63, from Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, died on February 5 at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle after developing cancer from the liver he got from the same 57-year-old female donor as Mrs Hunt.
Mr Tyreman needed the transplant after developing cirrhosis from a fatty liver. However, his family were not told his new liver had given him a terminal illness until it was revealed in the postmortem examination.
Mr and Mrs Hunt and Mr Tyreman’s family are calling for an inquiry.
Olive McGowan, an assistant director at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: ‘We’ve apologised to Mr Hunt for this mistake and the upset it has caused. We’ve explained to him that we are truly sorry for this mistake.
‘A non-clinical member of our team misinterpreted the correspondence we received and took the words “deadly cancer” to mean Mr Hunt’s wife had sadly passed away.’