Rabid Transplant Story Legal Update

Two of the families in the infamous case of four individuals who died as a result of organ transplants from a rabid victim filed suit against the hospital, Baylor University Medical Center, back in 2006.

Informed Consent at Issue in Rabies-Infected Kidneys

The plaintiffs in one of the cases allege in their petition that:

[the donor's] medical history revealed that he was admitted to the hospital, through the emergency room, in "an agitated and confused state and that he had multiple episodes of seizing and vomiting." They further allege that medical records indicate the team that procured [the donor's] kidney felt that the hospital and surgeon receiving the organ for transplant "should be aware of some significant signs of infection in the donor, including evidence of bacteria growing in the donor's sputum and blood." The Biggs plaintiffs also allege in their petition that [the donor's] temperature was 106 degrees prior to his death, "indicating an obvious and serious infection" that was unknown to the plaintiffs, [the donor's] treating physician and the defendants.

The family of the rabid man who died say that he ought not to have been rejected as a donor just because he was a drug user and in jail. Family responds

This is probably true. But he did have rabies.
I have not been able to discover the outcome of these two lawsuits.