Paul Fudacz Jr. went under the knife to give away one of his kidneys to his sister Sarah Fudacz but a nurse threw away his kidney after it was removed from him.
The brother and sister have sued the University of Toledo Medical Center over the situation.
The medical center this week filed a response to the lawsuit, acknowledging the kidney was thrown out but denying some of the other claims, and asking a state court to throw out parts of the lawsuit.
The motion seeks to dismiss two claims: “parental loss of consortium,” and “sibling loss of consortium,” reported the Toledo Blade. The medical center says the family has no right to compensation for either because there wasn’t a death in the case.
The medical center hasn’t asked for dismissal of the first count of the lawsuit, which alleges medical negligence.
Paul Fudacz Jr. seeks compensation for the damages he has suffered and will continue to suffer from the kidney surgery, reported the Independent Collegian.
After the kidney was thrown out, the medical center helped Sarah Fudacz find another kidney, and paid for travel expenses to Colorado for that surgery. But the lawsuit alleges that the new kidney is “a poorer match and of poorer quality” than Paul’s would have been.
The nurse that threw out the kidney has been fired, as well as the nurse who relieved her. That nurse has sued the hospital for wrongful discharge, defamation, slander, and libel.
Also, two other nurses were either terminated or forced to retire, and the administrator of surgical services has been placed on paid administrative leave. The surgeon who performed the surgery--there were attempts to save the kidney after it was retrieved--is still working at the medical center.
The Fudacz family is suing the medical center for $25,000 or more per plaintiff, and the suit lists eight family members as plaintiffs.
