I imagine that her liver and kidneys were extremely taxed by the illness that she had since birth, and were not of "transplant quality". If her organs were in transplantable condition, and her family chose not to donate, that's another issue entirely. But, I think that if she was in critical condition for such a long time, those major organs could not be used.

I wouldn't be too surprised if Duke decides to settle out of court. Regardless of the "greediness" of the family, the staff made a horrible horrible mistake that was based out of negligence. We can be damned sure this won't happen again.

I am sure her organs were too damaged to donate to anyone else. Her corneas are another story. Her families reply on donation did anger me on that subject.

I do see Duke settling out of court. But I see those money hungry malpractice lawyers demanding a ridiculous amount of money. GRRRR!!!

:(

I am just curious-how do ya'll feel about prisoners receiving transplants at tax payers expense? (I can tell you I don't agree with it:mad: )-let the discussion begin......

Read this.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20030225_675.html

None of her organs were in any condition to donate.

Just a small side note here on the process of donating organs and matching donor to recipient. (In one of my previous positions I was a data specialist in the Bone Marrow Transplant department and played a part in monitoring these patients and their grafts--much more complicated than "solid" organs.)

UNOS is set up much like the NMDP (National Marrow Donor Program) when it comes to recording tissue types of donors to recipients. Bottom line, the surgeon doesn't do it. He/She has nothing to do with the matching and confirmation process. There are at least a dozen people between the matching organization (in this case, UNOS) and the hospital where the recipient is being treated. The surgeon relies on those people to get blood types, HLA antigens straight before he implants the graft. At my institution we have no less than 5 people involved in prepping stem cell grafts plus data/research personnel confirming the match before the cells ever get to the patient.

The surgeon who implanted these organs had no way of knowing they were the wrong type. It's not his job. So he's not the one who should be apologizing for this botched job. There should be at least a dozen heads soon to roll both at UNOS and the hospital. I know at MDACC, no one is "just" fired for a mistake of this magnitude. (I'm also not aware of it happening even once after several thousand grafts, either.)

If I didn't cover anything in the general sense on this one, feel free to post or IM on the matching process.

Adrienne (PNAM-2003) - and proud LifeGift and NMDP potential donor.
:D

Medical malpractice lawyers are not money hungry. As long as there are doctors who make medical mistakes, they will keep medical malpractice lawyers in business.

Cream, thank you for saying that! What I think people often to fail to realize is that attorneys don't just file lawsuits on their own -- they file them because somebody has hired them to do so.

Someone earlier mentioned that the family members were greedy if they file a lawsuit (I'm too lazy to go back and find the quote). I think that's a pretty harsh thing to say. I'm guessing that most of you have no idea what it's like to lose a family member due to a medical mistake. I don't either, but I would never presume to judge a family member who decides to seek some type of compensation in such a situation. I've always thought that if someone's life is seriously affected by the error of a doctor, she deserves some type of compensation to make her life easier. What if, for example, a woman is a stay at home mom with four kids and her husband made only enough money for them to scrape by every month before he was killed as a result of doctor error. Is she greedy when she files a lawsuit?

Amen.

I think it's ridiculous how many people here think it should be up to them whether some little girl lives or dies. Regardless of the circumstances of the case, the point is that she is a human being and deserves just as much as any of the rest of you even if she wasn't American, etc. etc. And yes, it is unfortunate that they wasted two transplants on her, and yes, it is unfortunate that none of her organs can be donated now, and yes, it will be unfortunate if the family files a lawsuit -- however, life isn't fair.

It just creeps me out that so many people would rather save money on their taxes even if it meant that there are people dying because of it.

And yes, I will fully admit to being a bleeding heart liberal, if that wasn't clear enough by the above.

My sentiments exactly.

for whoever is unsure, the waiting list for transplants is international sine the organs come from all over also.

I concur.

I also don't think the family would be greedy if they sued for malpractice. If a building collapsed and people died, would it be wrong to sue the architect/structural engineer/contractor/whomever if the building was of shoddy quality? Just because they are not American :rolleyes: does not take away their concerns over negligence.

Also a proud NMDP cardholder! :D

Nothing wrong with that, I'll admit it as well.

What really burns me up, is that in LA (I don't know about other states) there is a $500,000 cap on a doctor's liability.

I hate it when people confuse medical malpractice plaintiff's lawyers with ambulance-chaser personal injury attorneys. There is a big difference. MedMal is (usually) because of doctor fault; some of them are bogus; there are a lot more ridiculous PI claims out there (hot coffee, anyone?) :rolleyes:

Okay, I will accept that I made a mistake in thinking that medical malpractice lawyer is the same as a personal injury lawyer. My bust!

Even so, I do want to point out...Duke has accepted fault in this case. They realized their error. I have heard the lawyers for the family point out that they are building a case against the hospital. It just makes me angry...Why make everyone suffer anymore than what they are putting themselves though?????