Melanie Lemay, who worked as a nurse for nearly 30 years, was fired six months short of retirement.  She had been working her entire career at the University of Toledo Medical Center (UTMC).  One day, she was working alongside a part-time nurse when a viable kidney that was intended for transplantation was discarded as medical waste.  Lemay and the other nurse were both put on paid administrative leave, but she was subsequently fired even though another nurse actually discarded the kidney.  Lemay has now brought a lawsuit against UTMC, the Toledo Blade reports.

The lawsuit alleges wrongful termination, defamation, slander, libel, and damage to her reputation.  According to Lemay’s attorney, Vesper C. Williams II, information provided by UTMC ruined her reputation.  As a result of the incident and subsequent events, Lemay has suffered from depression.  After being terminated, she lost her health benefits and could not retire as planned after six months.  As the primary breadwinner, her family is also suffering.  Her husband is also a named plaintiff in the lawsuit.

Lemay alleges that she was fired for violating policies and procedures that did not exist at the time of the incident.  The kidney was discarded on August 10, 2012.  During a subsequent investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services, UTMC only turned over policies dated August 16, 2012.  UTMC fired Lemay because she did not stop the other nurse from removing the kidney from the operating room prior to the end of the procedure.  Lemay alleges that she did not see the other nurse removing anything or know that she was doing so.

Following the incident, UTMC suspended both Lemay and the part-time nurse, Judith Moore.  Edwin Hall, an administrator of surgical services, was also suspended with pay pending investigation.  Moore subsequently resigned, but Lemay was terminated and the administrator was allowed to return to work a month later without any job consequences.  Dr. Michael Rees, who performed the procedure and was the surgical director of renal transplantation, temporarily had his director title stripped.  Dr. Rees continues to work as a surgeon at the hospital.

UTMC voluntarily suspended the live kidney donation program and hired a doctor specializing in transplantation programs to evaluate the program at UTMC along with its policies and procedures.  In December 2012, UTMC announced that the live kidney donor program would resume.  The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) endorsed UTMC resuming the program.

There are 93,000 patients waiting for kidney transplant, with 4,700 patients that died while waiting.  Unfortunately, more than 2,600 kidneys were recovered from deceased donors and subsequently discarded because they could not be matched to a recipient in a timely fashion.  Management of kidney donation to maximize lives saved continues to be a challenge.