Liver Donor Dies in Surgery

On May 24, a liver donor died while undergoing transplant surgery at Lahey Clinic in Burlington. This is only the third time an adult living liver donor has died since the first procedure was done twenty years ago.

Dr. James Markmann, chief of transplant surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, says that the risks involved in donor surgeries are generally lower than those associated with most surgeries because donors are young and healthy. However, there are still risks, and the risk of death is about one or two per every 1,000 operations.

Dr. Giuliano Testa, director of liver transplantation at the University of Chicago Medical Center, hopes that this tragedy won’t deter people from becoming living organ donors.

See Liz Kowalczyk, At the Lahey, a Stunning, Rare Tragedy, The Boston Globe, June 12, 2010.