Medical Malpractice Lawyers New York Warn about Live Kidney Transplant Deaths

Risks to live kidney donors undergoing laparoscopic procedures are low, but with the use of a medical clip warned to be dangerous for use in this type of procedure, the risks increase. Recent preventable deaths of donors indicate more warnings are ne

New York, NY (prHWY.com) October 12, 2012 - New York City, New York (PRWEB) June 28, 2012 -- Medical malpractice lawyers in New York are warning patients considering laparoscopic kidney donation to monitor use of a surgical clip that could lead to severe injury and death. Attorneys warn that individuals suffering any loss should call Gersowitz, Libo & Korek for more information.

Instances of live kidney donor deaths remain rare, though the use of a surgical clip in some of them could prove deadly. The problem is not the procedure itself, but the lack of information passed from the FDA and other warning systems to doctors performing such procedures. As such, some surgeons performing these procedures have used the wrong clips, which have a potentially high risk of bleed out.

In one such death, a woman, Florinda Gotcher had the kidney transplant surgery in an effort to save her brother, Manuel Reyna from a deadly kidney disease. While the laparoscopic procedure went fine, the woman was rushed back into the operating room 30 minutes later and bled to death. This avoidable death is what concerns medical malpractice attorneys in New York.

Surgeons use this clip routinely and for most uses, it is highly effective. However, in laparoscopic procedures, where vision is limited and the procedure calls for a much smaller portion of the renal artery to remain, such a clip can slip out of place, allowing the patient to bleed to death. That is what occurred in Gotcher's death. Medical malpractice attorneys New York offers are working to educate the public on this incredibly risk since doctors may not know they are using the improper clip.

This recent event is the fourth such death resulting from the use of the clip. The manufacturer of the clip, Teleflex sent letters beginning in 2006 to hospitals and doctors warning that the clip may not be safe in these procedures. The hospitals received at least three letters but some received as many as six. Nevertheless, the hospital or surgeon failed to note the connection between the use of the clip and the risk factors for this type of procedure and used it nonetheless.

The FDA noted the letters sent to doctors were enough in a review of clip's use in 2007. After Gotcher's death, the FDA issued a safety notification reminding surgeons of the risk of using the clips in live kidney donor instances. In a message to CNN, the FDA notes, "despite repeated efforts to communicate this important safety information, some transplant surgeons continue to improperly use these clips. While the FDA can warn against the unsafe use of a medical device, doctors are not prohibited from using cleared or approved devices for an unapproved use within their practice of medicine."

With high risks involved in the use of these clips in live kidney donor transplants, medical malpractice lawyers in New York warn that patients suffering the loss of life or significant injury may be entitled to compensation for their loss.

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Tag Words: medical malpractice

Categories: Law

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