Failed organ transplants: 60-year-old second kidney recipient dies

An official from the Directorate of Health Services, Maharashtra, said state government is monitoring the case and a report from the ZTCC will be sought soon. On September 5, Godavari Singh (60) underwent a kidney transplant under nephrologist M M Bahadur in Jaslok hospital. She was one of the three recipients whose transplant failed. On September 6, after the kidney did not function in her body, the doctors removed the donated organ.

Singh was put on ventilator support after massive internal bleeding. Last week, her platelet count had dropped to 3,000. The normal range is between 1.5 and 4.5 lakh. On Sunday, blood clotting was noted in her body and according to doctors, she passed away at 7.30 am on Tuesday. Declining to comment on the medical condition of the kidney recipient, an official from Jaslok hospital said: “We are awaiting the technical expert committee meet. After that we will be in a better position to comment.” A post-mortem examination has not been conducted.

The Kandivali resident was cremated on Tuesday evening. While the family hoped that she would recover for a second kidney transplant, Singh’s condition worsened on Monday. She had been undergoing dialysis for the past eight years and waiting for kidney donation for five years in the ZTCC’s waitlist.

Singh received a kidney from the 59-year-old person whose family agreed to donate both the kidneys and the liver following brain-stem death in P D Hinduja Hospital on September 4.  One kidney was transplanted in a 31-year-old Bhuleshwar resident at Hinduja hospital. The person had been undergoing dialysis for 14 years. The next day, the kidney was removed, as the recipient’s body rejected it. He died on September 7 after suffering from low platelet count, low blood pressure and blood loss.

Another patient, a 73-year-old woman, underwent liver transplantation in Global Hospital. According to doctors, that organ was also rejected and the liver had to be removed from the recipient’s body.  On September 7, she underwent another liver transplant. “Her condition is better. She is recuperating,” a doctor from Global hospital said.

Such multiple organ rejections from a single donor are rare. Doctors who conducted the transplants said human leukocyte antigen test, mandatory before each transplant, was carried for the donor and the recipients along with tests like HIV, Hepatitis, and other infectious diseases. “It is possible that some infection might have gone undiagnosed,” Supe said. The report from the committee is slated to be submitted in 15 days.