The world’s top doctors will tell you that a successful surgery needs more than just steady hands and experience. Detailed preparation is the foundation of any operation, yet kidney donor recipients are frequently becoming the victims of a deadly oversight by surgical staffs across the country.
It’s common for kidney transplant surgeons to use surgical clips to close the renal artery. Surgical clips, such as those manufactured by Teleflex, are an alternative to surgical staples in most surgeries, but are unsafe for use in laparoscopic kidney donor surgeries.
The documents inside each package of surgical clips indicate that the clips should not be used in this type of operation, but surgical teams are alarmingly unaware of the warnings. Teleflex has also sent numerous letters to hospitals advising them not to use Hem-o-lok surgical clips for laparoscopic kidney donor operations, but somehow these warnings have been ignored.
The medical negligence has recently caused at least one patient’s wrongful death, just minutes after a seemingly successful operation in which he received his sister’s donor kidney. The man ended up internally bleeding to death after the surgical clip failed to keep his artery closed.
If you or a loved one has been harmed by surgical negligence, contact a skilled Detroit surgery errors attorney to discuss your legal rights to damages. While many surgeries come with risks, conservative studies calculate that at least 400 patients wrongfully die from surgical errors each year in the U.S.
McKeen & Associates proudly assists injured patients and their families recover legal recourse through malpractice and product defect claims. Call us to arrange a free consultation with one of our skilled medical negligence lawyers.
Source: CNN Health, “Kidney-Donor Deaths Linked To Surgical Clips Raises Issues Of Alerts, Warnings,” John Bonifield, June 21, 2012
