GRIEVING FAMILY DEMAND ANSWERS
Wife accuses surgeons of keeping her in the dark
The NHS transplant service yesterday said no other patient received organ or tissue from the donor whose organs gave cancer to two transplant patients.
Tom Tyreman died in February after his new liver gave him cancer while Pauline Hunt has been diagnosed with the same disease after receiving a kidney from the same donor.
Pauline and husband Gordon, who got married while she was in hospital, only knew another transplant patient had died because surgeons in Glasgow had to rush to remove her new kidney. Mr Tyreman’s widow Judy said: “Pauline and Gordon knew about us, but we did not know another family was involved until the inquest in September. We only learned it was Pauline and Gordon last week. We were kept in the dark. Completely in the dark.”
Professor John Forsythe, medical director for Organ Donation and Transplantation at NHS Blood and Transplant, said every possible test was done on donated organs in the time available. Yesterday, the NHS Blood and Transplant service said no other organs had been transplanted from the donor.
A spokesman said: “Our research has found the risk of transmission of a previously undiagnosed cancer from a donor to a recipient is less than 1 in 2,000 organs transplanted.
“We can confirm that an investigation found all processes were followed correctly in this donation.”
Andy Welch, medical director for Newcastle NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the Freeman Hospital, said Mr Tyreman’s family’s concerns were being investigated, adding: “This investigation is currently on-going and the full outcome will be discussed with them on completion.”