KIDNEY TRANSPLANT SOLICITORS - SURGERY MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE CLAIM

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A kidney transplant is performed whenever a person is in end-stage renal failure and is not wishing or able to undergo chronic dialysis. End stage renal disease cannot be reversed with medications or surgery and you must have a transplant or dialysis to survive. The kidneys filter toxins and metabolites from the blood and without it, you will soon die. Dialysis will filter the blood artificially and can be done indefinitely but is very time consuming and interferes with a person's ability to have a normal life. If you would like advice at no cost just use the helpline or complete the contact form and a kidney transplant solicitor will telephone you with no charge and no obligation.

Having a kidney transplant means you replace your diseased kidney with a normal kidney. In reality, the diseased kidney can be left in place and a normal kidney is placed somewhere in your pelvis to do the job of the diseased kidneys. The new kidney is called a donor kidney.

About 350,000 individuals in the US have end stage kidney disease and about 67,000 of these people die every year of kidney failure. About 47,000 individuals are waiting for a kidney transplant at any given point in time. Only a small portion of these individuals actually get a kidney and the rest must wait up to several years for a transplant.

In kidney failure, there can be acute kidney damage or chronic, slowly acting kidney damage. The kidneys cannot function normally. Common causes for chronic kidney damage are high blood pressure and diabetes. Certain drugs or toxins can cause permanent damage to the kidneys, leading to chronic kidney failure. Other people who get chronic liver disease are those with glomerulonephritis, hemolytic uremic syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus, major surgery, sickle cell anemia, severe burns or injury, heart attack, heart disease, liver disease or liver failure. Inherited kidney diseases can result in kidney failure, as can amyloidosis, vascular diseases, chemotherapy, gout, some cancers, and HIV infections.

Symptoms of chronic kidney failure include having a low red blood cell count (anemia), retention of fluid, edema in the lungs, high blood pressure, amyloidosis and weakening of the bones from kidney failure. You can get stomach ulcers, neurological damage, bleeding problems and problems related to difficulty sleeping with dialysis. Some people have few symptoms in the early stages of kidney failure, even when the condition is nearly critical. There is no pain with kidney failure unless other symptoms are damaged. The fluid retention is perhaps the most common symptoms and can affect the arms, legs and lungs. Patients will urinate less than normal and can have other urinary problems. Impaired clotting is a common symptom with bleeding from different places. There is tiredness, confusion, nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite and increased risk of fractures and itching.

You can prevent kidney failure in a few cases. Controlling the underlying conditions is the key to trying to repair the kidney damage. Aggressive treatment of the underlying conditions is vital to allowing the kidney to repair itself or to stay the same and not worsen. You need to stay away from drugs, alcohol, toxic chemicals and other toxic substances in order to keep your kidneys healthy.

A kidney transplant occurs when there is end stage kidney disease and dialysis is not the best option. There is a long wait for a kidney so the individual may need to be on dialysis for many years before a transplanted kidney becomes available. The new kidney will replace the functioning of the old kidney so that dialysis is not necessary. A surgery is done to place the new kidney in the abdomen or pelvis and attaches the kidney to a major artery and vein. The kidney is attached to a ureter and it begins functioning. Your own kidneys are left in place unless they are causing severe hypertension or are damaged by infection. It is not a difficult procedure.

Kidneys are not given to everyone and there is a strict screening procedure to decide who can get a kidney transplant. The doctors determine if you need a kidney and whether or not you will tolerate the anti-rejection drugs that will need to be given. It is determined what kidney will constitute a match for you and this kidney is awaited for. You will deal with a transplant surgeon, a transplant coordinator, a nephrologist, a social worker and other healthcare providers as you prepare to have a transplanted kidney.

HELPLINE: ☎ 1800 633 634

Medical Negligence Solicitors

Our medical negligence solicitors will maximise your personal injury compensation claim using a no win no fee arrangement which means that if you don�t win then you don�t pay them their professional costs. If you believe that your kidney transplant surgery was carried out negligently then just complete the contact form or email our solicitors offices or use the helpline and a kidney transplant solicitor will telephone you at no cost and with no obligation.

HELPLINE: ☎ 1800 633 634

The author of the substantive medical writing on this website is Dr. Christine Traxler MD whose biography can be read here