Woman Who Received Cancerous Organ Sues Doctor

USA TODAY – July 12, 2012

A Chicago woman who received a cancerous pancreas has filed suit against the doctor who performed her transplant, the hospital where the operation was performed and the organ donor network that supplied the pancreas, according to court documents.

The suit was filed by Rashia Wimley this week against the transplant doctor, the University of Chicago and the Gift of Hope Organ and Tissue Donor Network for negligence and carelessness. Wimley, who received the cancerous pancreas in 2008, has since developed cancer.

The Director of the University of Chicagos Transplant Centers said that the risk of developing cancer after receiving a cancerous organ is quite small, and that the benefits of receiving the organ far outweighed Wimleys risk of getting cancer.

According to a 2002 study, only 21 out of over 108,000 organ transplants resulted in recipients developing cancer during a seven-year period.