Medical Council Clears Doctors of Medical Malpractice for Removing Wrong Kidney

by | Sep 5, 2010

A Medical Council fitness-to-practice committee ruling has attracted significant media comment over the past few days in the case involving the removal of the wrong kidney from a young child. After hearing most of the evidence in the case, the committee had decided to invoke Section 67 of the Medical Practitioners Act 2007 that allows doctors to undertake not to repeat their errors while avoiding being found guilty of professional misconduct. The incident occurred at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin, in March 2008 when junior doctor Sri Paran, under the supervision of Professor Martin Corbally, removed a perfectly healthy kidney while leaving in place a barely functioning kidney.

The young boys’ parents, Jennifer Stewart and Oliver Conroy, repeatedly asked hospital staff to confirm which kidney was scheduled to be removed before the operation.  Despite this, it was revealed that nobody had reviewed the X-rays that were available in the operating theatre before the operation. The boy, now 8 years old, is left with a right kidney with 9 per cent functionality, leaving him requiring regular dialysis until he obtains a kidney transplant.

Professor Corbally immediately met with the parents of the boy and apologised.

This type of medical error happens all the time as is known as a “wrong-site operation”.  The problem is mainly due to poor procedures in operating theatre, where surgeons seem to resist the ‘checklist’ approach to operations that are common in other professions.  A good example is the pre-flight checklist used by all pilots all over the world, where they check even the most obvious things like fuel levels and radio signals.

Since there were no proper checklists in place for a kidney removal operation, there was no medical malpractice resulting from not following the non-existent checklist.  It was a simple case of human error.

Need Help?

If you have any legal questions arising from an injury then please call us now on our 24-Hour helpline on 1800-989 900

This is a free-to-call line to book a call with a Coleman Legal solicitor. There are no charges or obligations for using this service and you will NOT be pressured into making a claim or using our services. We always respect your privacy and comply with GDPR regulations.