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Cancerous Lungs Transplanted in Patient, Lawsuit Alleges
February 11, 2008

At first glance, the case of Tony Grier seems almost too outrageous to be true, like something out of a medical horror story. A young man suffering from a lung disease waits for a transplant and to his relief finds a perfect donor match. The transplant is made, and is supposedly successful. End of story.

Except that the lungs that were transplanted were infected with cancer and belonged to a cancer patient.

Now, Tony Grier's estate is suing the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, four of its doctors and The Gift of Life organ donor foundation that was the agency through which the lung allocation was made. The lawsuit alleges, among other things, medical malpractice, wrongful death and common law fraud.

43-year-old Newark resident Grier suffered from a rare lung disease called pulmonary sarcodiosis, which causes chronic inflammation of the lungs. One of the effects of the disease is the thickening of the lung tissue to the extent that air can no longer pass through to the bloodstream. For Grier, a lung transplant seemed to be the only way out.

In 2002, he was put on a lung transplant list. A match was found and Grier, the lawsuit alleges, was told that the lung belonged to a healthy 18-year-old. Grier consented to the surgery and a transplant surgery was performed on January 7, 2005.

The surgery was performed by Dr. Albert Pocchettinio, who has now been named in the lawsuit as a defendant at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Grier was discharged from the hospital on February 4, 2005, and as is normal procedure, began post-transplant visits with Doctors Jeffrey Sager and Robert Kotloff, both of whom have also been named as defendants in the lawsuit.

During one of these post-transplant visits, Grier companied of coughing and pain. Upon inspection, Dr. Sager noticed a spot on Grier's lungs and began to treat it with antibiotics.

By the time doctors at the Hospital figured out what the "spot" was, it was too late for any remedy. Grier had been transplanted with a cancerous lung from a cancer patient and the tumor had spread all over the body. The lawsuit alleges that the antibiotics provided a fertile ground for the cancer to spread.

Grier was informed in May 2005, the same month that the doctors found out they had transplanted a cancerous lung, that he had only 48 hours to live. He lived for a full two months more, spending every day with the anguish of knowing that death was close. He died on July 16, 2005. The lawsuit mentions his great suffering from the time of the transplant to the time of his death, and cites negligent infliction of emotional distress as one of the charges.

Grier's mother, Emma Grier, is seeking $750,000 in damages from each defendant. There are a total of seven counts listed. Her complaint squarely blames Lancaster General Hospital physician Gregory Rossini, whom she says determined that the donor lung was suitable for donation.

So far there has been no response from any of the doctors who have been named in the lawsuit nor the hospital.

If there was ever a case to highlight negligence in a medical setting, this would be it. How is it possible that a cancerous lung escaped what we presume and hope, are tough screening procedures for a donor? We are talking about the cancerous lung of a patient who died - which means that it's safe to assume the cancer was hardly in the early stages or too minute to be detected. How does Gift of Life, who claims that their organization runs a series of medical tests to make sure an organ is suitable for donation, explain a cancerous lung donation to a patient?

Medical malpractice laws in this country constantly receive flak for being too harsh on physicians and causing fear in doctors. Cases like Tony Grier's are the reason why medical malpractice laws are as tough as they are.

For now, all eyes are focused on the defendants and their responses to Emma Grier's allegations.

If you have a loved-one who has died due to negligence, you need the assistance of an experienced California personal injury attorney. Contact a lawyer at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.

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