A fifteen year old, Alex Koehne, dies of what the doctors said was bacterial meningitis. His parents, wanting his life to go on in others, agree to donate his organs.
His parents requested an autopsy after his death and the results showed that the boy was misdiagnosed and had actually died of a rare lymphoma, but it was too late because they had already donated his organs and they had already been transplanted into the recipients.
Two of those people who received Alex's organs have died of the same rare lymphoma and two others are still fighting the deadly disease.
Had the Stony Brook University Medical Center known before the autopsy that Alex had died of the rare lymphoma, his organs would not have been eligible for transplant.
Under transplant protocols, Stony Brook is not technically responsible for the healthiness of organs donated by its patients. That responsibility lies with the donor network. The network bases its decisions on the patient's medical records, tests and information gathered from the family.
The state Department of Health recently concluded an investigation at Stony Brook and found that there were no "flaws in policies, procedures and actions at Stony Brook concerning the case of the 15-year-old boy with transplanted organs," according to the departments spokesperson Claudia Hutton.
Although no wrongdoing or flaw in procedures had been found during the investigation, NYU and the University of Minnesota, hospitals that transplanted the diseased organs, have both changed their policies and now require stronger proof of bacterial meningitis, if that is the cause of death of an organ donor.
Alex's parents Jim and Lisa Koehne are, needless to say, devastated and understand they are on of five families suffering from this horrible tragedy. Jim Koehne saying it "eats me alive every day," and he concludes, "We don't need to cause others to suffer."
His wife, Lisa, understandably questions the procedures that allow for organ donations when the cause of the death is not verified, stating, "It doesn't make sense to me. How do you give organs not knowing what the child died of?
Organ transplants save many lives and it is a matter of speed because an organ is only viable for a certain amount of time and generally they must rely on previous medical reports as well as a doctors diagnosis of cause of death in determining whether an organ can be transplanted. There is no time for an autopsy to be performed before an organ is no longer viable.
According to a Newsday report, transmitted cancer through donated organs is not common but also not unheard of.
A tragedy that, as of now, no one seems to be at blame for, and yet five families are suffering unimaginable pain.
Science has advanced but it is not and probably never will be, perfected.
Our thoughts and sympathies go out to all the families.
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