Kidney "accidentally" tossed

[leaverus]

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...679986-ee82-11e1-b624-99dee49d8d67_story.html

How in the f**k does that happen?? It's the entire point of the surgery - there's literally nothing more important at the time than the harvested organ. How the hell do you accidentally throw the kidney out? I guess the circulator (I assume it was not the scrub) just had too many other things going on 🙄 Whoever it was, they're finished.

I also find the one comment at the bottom hilarious and ironic.

 

[Bertelman]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...679986-ee82-11e1-b624-99dee49d8d67_story.html

How in the f**k does that happen?? It's the entire point of the surgery - there's literally nothing more important at the time than the harvested organ. How the hell do you accidentally throw the kidney out? I guess the circulator (I assume it was not the scrub) just had too many other things going on 🙄 Whoever it was, they're finished.

I also find the one comment at the bottom hilarious and ironic.

That's shocking. I am trying to calculate in my mind what one of my kidneys would be worth, for the impending lawsuit.

 

[geauxg8rs]

I find it implausible that a nurse could ever make an error. I'm sure there is a doctor to blame instead.

 

[leaverus]

Yeah i'm not even sure how you would do that. The donor obviously was giving it up anyway and he would have gone on with a single kidney with nearly the same quality of life. But for the intended recipient the loss is just incalculable.

 

[Impromptu]

Like neurosurgeons have never dropped the bone flap on the floor they are intending to place back into a craniotomy. Just dust it off and it will be fine.

 

[jwk]

Like neurosurgeons have never dropped the bone flap on the floor they are intending to place back into a craniotomy. Just dust it off and it will be fine.

Five second rule for kidneys?

 

[Orin]

If only "don't throw out kidney" had been on their checklist!

 

[lakersbaby]

did you read the comment by "4nurses" on the bottom of this article. classic stuff

 

[fakin' the funk]

I find it implausible that a nurse could ever make an error. I'm sure there is a doctor to blame instead.

👍

 

[jennyboo]

I've heard of this happening before. Hard to believe, but consider what happens when you put these things together:

- poor signout between people giving each other breaks/lunches/etc
- circulator or scrub tech relieving someone has never worked with this surgeon/done this kind of case before
- tense, hostile work environment where people are afraid to ask questions and/or speak up

Yeah, it's stupid. But stuff like this happens because we don't communicate well.

 

[Bertelman]

I've heard of this happening before. Hard to believe, but consider what happens when you put these things together:

- poor signout between people giving each other breaks/lunches/etc
- circulator or scrub tech relieving someone has never worked with this surgeon/done this kind of case before
- tense, hostile work environment where people are afraid to ask questions and/or speak up

Yeah, it's stupid. But stuff like this happens because we don't communicate well.

That's kinda what I was thinking. Young OR nurse giving a break in the "kidney transplant" room, surgical team leaves to help with recipient exposure, and boom, specimen in the biohazard bag.

 

[fakin' the funk]

That's kinda what I was thinking. Young OR nurse giving a break in the "kidney transplant" room, surgical team leaves to help with recipient exposure, and boom, specimen in the biohazard bag.

Let's assume the nurse knew he/she was tossing a kidney. That's as simple as not knowing the surgery -- obviously no organ is explanted or tossed for a kidney txp (or for any other txp for that matter!).

If the nurse didn't know he/she was tossing a kidney, that could be because the organ was on ice on the back table, covered up with a blue towel, etc etc, and the nurse was simply tidying up the back table. Many possible scenarios there.

 

[Idiopathic]

yeah i doubt it was as simple as "throwing away a kidney". and i would wager a lunch break was involved, especially since two people are under investigation.

 

[Planktonmd]

Stranger things have happened before.
The positive aspect is that someone is going to be very very rich and possibly get the first available cadaveric kidney.
Not a bad deal.

 

[Bertelman]

Let's assume the nurse knew he/she was tossing a kidney. That's as simple as not knowing the surgery -- obviously no organ is explanted or tossed for a kidney txp (or for any other txp for that matter!).

If the nurse didn't know he/she was tossing a kidney, that could be because the organ was on ice on the back table, covered up with a blue towel, etc etc, and the nurse was simply tidying up the back table. Many possible scenarios there.

Obvious for whom? You think the average nurse fresh off of OR internship knows there is no kidney explant for the recipient? Pay attention to the circulators, especially the young ones, next time you do an overnight call or evening shift involving circulators that are out of their normal rooms. Many of them frankly have very little idea what is going on in the procedure.

And are you saying no organ is explanted for any other transplant? hearts? livers?

 

[WholeLottaGame7]

I found this quote interesting: "But one of the doctors involved told Dr. David Grossman, a Toledo-Lucas County health commissioner, that a nurse disposed of the kidney improperly."

Is there a proper way to dispose of a kidney? Down the toilet?

 

[fakin' the funk]

Obvious for whom? You think the average nurse fresh off of OR internship knows there is no kidney explant for the recipient? Pay attention to the circulators, especially the young ones, next time you do an overnight call or evening shift involving circulators that are out of their normal rooms. Many of them frankly have very little idea what is going on in the procedure.

And are you saying no organ is explanted for any other transplant? hearts? livers?

You got me on a couple instances of questionable word choice here, but I think we're on the same page.

What I meant w/r/t the bolded part is that explanted organs aren't just tossed in the red bin. It goes to path or whatever, or isn't explanted in the first place. But as you pointed out, unless someone is taught that, there's no way to know.

 

[FutureInternist]

did you read the comment by "4nurses" on the bottom of this article. classic stuff

Yet these same nurses fight for being treated as equals when it comes to seeing patients as DNPs/PAs etc....and for the right to be called "doctor" and confuse the patients 😡

 

[gudog]

Like neurosurgeons have never dropped the bone flap on the floor they are intending to place back into a craniotomy. Just dust it off and it will be fine.

I asked this question to the transplant surgeon when I was an intern - "What would happen if you dropped the kidney on the floor?"

Pick it up and put it in the patient was the answer.

Didn't ask if it had ever happened, though.

 

[CambieMD]

This is an issue of someone not understanding the nature of the case that they were in. They did not understand what in the world was going on. A simple,"hi guys I am Bill is this a nephrectomy or kidney transplant."

Cambie