Loss of Kidney Due to Delayed Medical Treatment
If you have lost a kidney due to a delay in medical treatment, you could be entitled to pursue a medical negligence claim. Get in touch with us today to find out more.
Loss of kidney due to delayed pyeloplasty
There are many ways in which substandard medical care may lead to the loss of a kidney. One of these is a delay in performing a pyeloplasty.
A pyeloplasty is a surgical procedure that reconstructs and drains the renal pelvis. The renal pelvis is part of the kidney and acts as a funnel, helping the flow of urine from the kidney and into the ureter, where it then flows on to the bladder.
If the renal pelvic becomes narrowed, the urine will not be able to drain easily into the ureter. This may occur due to an ureteropelvic junction (UJP) obstruction, a condition which is often congenital, although can also be caused by disease or traumatic injury.
If there is a UJP obstruction, it must be treated with a pyeloplasty.
Failure to perform a pyeloplasty
Pyeloplasty procedures have a 90 to 95% success rate. This means that as long as a pyeloplasty is performed in a reasonable amount of time, the kidney should be salvaged and a patient stands a good chance of making a full recovery.
However, if there is a delay in treatment, the kidney will become damaged. This is because the urine will not be able to drain out of the kidney properly, and the build-up of toxins within the urine will harm the surrounding tissue. Function will subsequently be reduced, and if the delay in treatment is significant, function will ultimately be lost. A patient will therefore need to have the damaged kidney removed.
Claiming for a loss of kidney
If a delay in performing a pyeloplasty has led to the loss of a kidney, questions must be raised as to the standard of care provided.
It may be that a patient simply did not seek medical attention in time, in which case the standard of care may not be criticised. However, if medical professionals failed to diagnose the problem, or decided to delay treatment, there will be a breach of duty. Because this avoidable failure has caused a patient to suffer injury – namely, the loss of a kidney – there will be a case of medical negligence.
Speak to a solicitor today
If you have lost a kidney due to poor medical care, do not hesitate to speak to a solicitor today.
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