Dallas Hospitals Sued Over Blood-Type Mixup in Baby's Transplant Death

Two Dallas hospitals and three surgeons are being sued in a case involving another transplant mixup in which a year-old baby died after receiving a liver from a donor that did not match her blood type.

In this case, the lawsuit alleges that surgeons mistakenly gave Jeanella Aranda, who had Type O blood, a partial living-donor liver transplant from her father, who has Type A blood.

After the transplant, the girl developed a blood disorder, fever, kidney problems, lung hemorrhages and jaundice, but the blood type mismatch was not detected until her mother raised questions 19 days later. The 17-month-old infant died the following day.

The transplant error occurred, the suit alleges, because a laboratory mixed up the blood types of the baby's parents and incorrectly identified the father as a suitable donor when, in fact, the mother, who has type A blood, should have been the donor.

The case recalls the death last month of Jesica Santillan, the teenager who underwent two heart-lung transplants at Duke Hospital after the first set of organs was transplanted from a donor that was the wrong blood type (see earlier Transplant Week story).

Although many transplant professionals contend that mismatches of this kind are rare, no one knows how often they occur. The United Network for Organ Sharing, which coordinates distribution of cadaver organs, does not keep track of mismatches.

According to the legal documents filed in Dallas, the fatal chain of events began when Jeanella Aranda had surgery July 16 for a noncancerous liver tumor. During surgery, damage to blood vessels cut off the blood supply to the liver, and doctors had to remove Jeanella's liver. Without a transplant, she was expected to die in less than 48 hours.

Her parents, Cesar and Alicia Aranda, were told that one of them might be able to donate part of their liver, and their blood was drawn to see if either matched Jeanella's Type O. The laboratory initially reported that Mrs. Aranda matched, but then called back to say it had made a mistake and Mr. Aranda matched. In fact, the first result was correct, but doctors went with the second, incorrect report.

Cesar Aranda went to Baylor University Medical Center, where surgeons removed part of his liver and sent it to Children's Medical Center, where it was transplanted into Jeanella on July 17.

Named in the lawsuit are Baylor University Medical Center, Children's Medical Center, and Drs. Robert Goldstein, Philip Guzzetta and Jay Roden, who were involved in the operations.

Other Sources: Dallas Morning News