BRONX — Montefiore Medical Center has shut down its live-donor organ-transplant program following the recent death of a patient on the operating table, the New York Post reported Tuesday.
A woman who was trying to donate a kidney to a relative died during surgery at the Bronx hospital after her aorta was cut or ruptured during the operation, according the the Post. The woman, mother to a 2-year-old child, was the first live-donor fatality at Montefiore in more than 40 years.
A spokesman for the State Health Department told the Post they are investigating the incident. Sources also told the paper that the hospital suspended the live-donor program on its own, and was not forced to do so by the state. Montefiore is conducting its own investigation, according to the Post.
“This is a terrible tragedy. The patient experienced a rare complication of this surgery,” a hospital spokesman told the Post. “The doctors recognized the problem and took extensive steps to save the patient’s life.’’