Parents’ kidney alert should have raised a ‘red flag’

AN independent medical expert said a “red flag” should have been raised among medical staff at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin when a boy’s parents had expressed concern that his wrong kidney had been selected for removal.

Robert Wheeler, a consultant paediatric surgeon based in Southampton, told an Irish Medical Council (IMC) hearing yesterday that someone should have carried out a review of the patient’s X-rays before the surgery.

Two surgeons at Our Lady’s who were involved in the removal of a perfectly functioning kidney from the six-year-old patient in March 2008 were criticised by Mr Wheeler during the hearing of the IMC’s Fitness to Practice Committee.