NHS awards compensation to man given cancerous kidney in transplant

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NHS awards compensation to man given cancerous kidney in transplant

A man who was given a cancerous kidney in a transplant operation has been awarded a six figure compensation settlement from the NHS to help him to rebuild his life. 

Rob Law, 62, of Wirral, Merseyside, endured gruelling chemotherapy and was left psychologically scarred after a communication error lead to him receiving a kidney from a woman with an aggressive form of cancer.

In 2012 his legal team at JMW Solicitors secured an admission of negligence and an apology from NHS Blood and Transplant. This confirmed that when the transplant was carried out in November 2010 there had been a failure to communicate to the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospital NHS Trust the possibility that the donor had lymphoma. 

A six figure settlement has now been negotiated for Mr Law to help him to cope with the fall-out of the error. The settlement has been carefully calculated to take into consideration the losses Mr Law suffered due to the negligence and his current and future care needs. 

Mr Law commented: “The past few years have been incredibly stressful and traumatic so I am relieved I am finally able to start the process of moving on with my life. 

“I continue to believe in the vital work that the transplant service does and remain grateful that the family of the woman who donated the kidney made the difficult decision to pass her organs on to people on the transplant list. 

“I hope that lessons have been learned from my case and that this has helped to make the system safer by ensuring all medical staff involved with transplants have the training and support they need.” 

Eddie Jones, head of medical negligence at JMW and Mr Law’s solicitor, said that the transplant error had been devastating for Mr Law and his health had never fully recovered. 

He commented: “Mr Law was on the transplant list after suffering from kidney disease for five years. His sister had offered to donate one of her kidneys but after a kidney became available from a deceased donor he decided to spare her the ordeal. 

“Unfortunately the donated organ gave him cancer, which psychologically has taken an enormous toll on him. 

“Despite this Mr Law has conducted himself with great dignity throughout this case and has spoken out several times in support of organ donation.

“In my experience as a medical negligence solicitor this type of error is rare but as with the many others we deal with it could have been avoided with adequate training, monitoring and communication. It would be a further tragedy for anyone else to go through such an ordeal so it is vital that lessons have been learned.”

Mr Law underwent the transplant operation on 26th November 2010 after being assured that the donor kidney was healthy. However 12 days after the surgery Mr Law was given the devastating news that an autopsy had revealed that the donor had intravascular B cell lymphoma. Tests later confirmed that the kidney Mr Law had been given was cancerous. 

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JMW Solicitors LLP is a leading Manchester law firm and offers a broad range of legal services to both commercial and private clients. To speak to someone please use our online enquiry form or call us on 0345 872 6666.

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