Family Sues After Patient Receives Bad Lungs

Newark, NJAll 43 year old Tony Grier of Newark wanted was a healthy set of lungs so that he could have a better quality of life. Instead, he was given lungs that were riddled with cancer and he died six months after the transplant. Now his family has filed a $100 million medical malpractice lawsuit against two hospitals, and three doctors for the 2005 transplant that took place at the hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Before the transplant was performed, Grier was told that he was receiving the lungs of a healthy 18-year-old male. Instead, he was given the lungs of Tara Rivera, 31, who was critically injured in a January 5, 2005 three-vehicle crash that she later died from. However, it was determined that she was quite far from being healthy. For 16 years, Ms. Rivera had smoked a pack of cigarettes daily. Attorney Dawn Jackson says that the hospitals involved in the transplant, which includes Lancaster General Hospital where the lungs came from, knew that Ms. Rivera was a heavy smoker. However, she was still identified as a person whose lungs could be donated.

Grier had inflamed lungs that were a result of a chronic pulmonary disease, which is what led to the need for a transplant. After receiving the transplant, it was within the following six months that Grier died of lung cancer. The lawsuit names one of the three doctors specifically, Dr. Gregory Rossini, because he was the doctor that viewed the airway of the donor lungs and classified them as being okay for donation.

The lawsuit is also naming the Gift of Life donor program, which is the non-profit agency that is responsible for the recovery and the delivery of tissues and organs that are to be donated. John Green with Gift of Life says that they typically arrange for the transport of the organs once they are recovered from the donors, but they also perform extensive testing to make sure the organs are able to be transplanted.

As for any statements from Lancaster General Hospital, they have not offered any comment on the lawsuit because they have not seen it. However, they have said in a statement that they do look forward to reading the lawsuit so that they can better understand the allegations.

Emma Grier, Tony Grier's mother, not only alleges that the Hospital of the University of Philadelphia told her son that he was getting the lungs of a healthy 18-year-old boy, but that the doctors treated her son for an infection instead of cancer.

At this time, the Hospital of the University of Philadelphia has not made any public statements regarding the lawsuit. They have, however, been ordered by Judge R. Barclay of the Pennsylvania Eastern District Court to release x-rays of Grier's lungs.

By Ginger Gillenwater