Toledo Nurses Suspended After Donor Kidney Is Thrown Into Trash During Transplant Surgery


Toledo, OH – A Toledo hospital operating room nurse accidentally threw away a donor kidney during a transplant surgery. The University of Toledo Medical Center suspended its kidney transplant program in the wake of the mistake. The Ohio hospital referred to the kidney incident as a “rare accident” according to the New York Daily News. Medical experts believe throwing away an organ during a kidney transplant Toledo incident is probably a “one-of-a-kind” occurrence in America, according to the Toledo Blade.

The botched kidney transplant surgery occurred after a Toledo area man had his kidney removed in an effort to help his older sister, who needed a donor kidney. The kidney was supposed to be removed from the man and then immediately transferred into the waiting body of his sister. At some point during the University of Toledo Medical Center kidney transplant surgery, the donor organ was thrown in the medical trash container.

University of Toledo Medical Center staff immediately began searching for the missing kidney once it was discovered the donor organ was missing, the Toledo Blade relates. It reportedly took nearly an hour to find the missing kidney, at which point the donor organ was already ruined.

Statement from the University of Toledo Medical Center:

“In the process of transferring a kidney from a donor, a human error rendered the kidney unusable.”

Two Toledo nurses were suspended after the kidney transplant incident – with pay. The New York Daily News identifies the suspended University of Toledo Medical Center nurses as Judith Moore and Melanie Lemay. No information about health status of the kidney transplant patient is currently available.

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