Organ transplants have provided people throughout the country including those in the Pittsburgh area, the chance at extended or "normal" lives. Individuals on the receiving end of the transplant often assume that if the surgery goes well and their body does not reject the organ, they are in the clear. A woman who received a pancreas in 2008 knows that is not always the case.

Four years after her transplant surgery, the woman has been diagnosed with cancer. In response, the 39-year-old woman has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit, alleging among other things, hospital negligence. Named as defendants in the case are the doctor who performed the surgery, the hospital at which the transplant took place as well as the Gift of Hope Organ and Tissue Donor Network. She has alleged that all acted carelessly and negligently by providing her the organ that was diseased.

Though rare, cancer is a known possibility after undergoing an organ transplant. The director of the transplant center where the surgery took place indicated that among other tests, donors are routinely screened for cancer before a transplant is undertaken. Unfortunately, the test for cancer is considered to be inconclusive.

Medical malpractice lawsuits can be brought in situations where either an action or lack of action on the part of a medical professional or other person employed by a medical facility, causes a patient to be injured. When successful, they provide the injured party with financial damages. The compensation may make it easier for the injured person to deal with his or her injury.

Source: Chicago Sun-Times, "Woman files lawsuit charging transplanted organ was cancerous," Kim Janssen, July 10, 2012