A Longueuil man is demanding answers after he was prepped for a kidney transplant that was cancelled.
François Forget was told his surgery was cancelled because there was no doctor available to harvest the donor's kidney, but the hospital says that's not the full story.
Following years of kidney problems, two weeks ago 49-year-old Forget’s doctor told him he was getting a transplant.
“At one point I thought I won the lottery," he said.
“They told me ‘Well you’re going to have a kidney, it’s a perfect match for you,’ and I was all excited, everyone around me one was very excited,” he said.
That night, he was admitted to the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital and given anti-rejection drugs. But when he woke up in his hospital bed, the doctor broke the bad news.
“He said ‘Well I’m sorry the operation won’t happen because we don't have any surgeon available to pick that kidney up,’ so he sent me back home,” he said. He was devastated.
The hospital issued a statement which suggests there's more to the story. It said "according to the information we've received, the kidneys from this donor could not be transplanted into anyone for medical reasons. The kidneys were not viable."
Dr. Jean-François Lizé, medical director at Transplant Quebec, says it’s a rare situation, but it happens.
On rare occasions, the pre-surgery diagnostics don't give the whole story of an organ. Doctors only determine it isn't viable once it’s harvested.
And while he can't say what happened in Forget's case, he admits, every once in a while, there aren’t enough surgeons to do everything.
The good news is Forget's situation is not dire so far. The many pills he takes are helping, and the chances are good he'll get a kidney within six months.
But for now his life and his work are both on hold. He's hoping the next call that comes in is from someone telling him there's a new donor.
