• 28
  • May
    2010

A New York jury began deliberations in an unusual medical malpractice case yesterday. The case involves the death of a man who developed cancer after receiving a kidney transplant from a woman with uterine cancer.

The suit alleges that NYU Langone Medical Center was responsible for Vincent Liew's death because it conducted a transplant operation with a kidney coming from a woman whom they later learned had developed uterine cancer. Mr. Liew's widow is seeking $3 million in damages from the hospital.

Events began in February of 2002 when Liew, who had been waiting for a kidney transplant for about five years, received a kidney from a donor who had recently died from a stroke. At the time, nobody knew the donor, Sandy Cabrera, had also developed cancer. A subsequent autopsy revealed the cancer, but Liew's transplant surgeon was apparently not made aware of that fact until April of 2002.

According to the transplant surgeon and the hospital, Mr. Liew was advised there was some risk in keeping the kidney, but decided to keep it and monitor the kidney for signs of cancer. Although there were no signs of cancer, Liew suffered back pain and eventually had the kidney removed about six months after the transplant. He died three weeks later. An autopsy revealed cancer as the cause of his death, but did not specify the type of cancer.

At trial, each side produced cancer specialists and competing expert witnesses. Both seemed to agree that the transplant caused the cancer; however, one argued the kidney caused the cancer, while the other argued that Liew likely died from an immune-system cancer that has been known to develop in transplant patients.

Jury deliberations were to continue today and verdict should be available soon.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has estimated that as many as 1% of transplant organs may transmit diseases, but donors with active cancers are usually screened out.

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