Widow Kimberly Liew, whose husband Vincent died in 2002 after contracting uterine cancer from an infected kidney transplant, was shocked when a judge ruled that NYU Medical Center was not liable for Vincent's death. Liew, who was suing for $3 million, won't receive any money, even though the family of another patient who died after receiving a diseased organ from donor Sandy Cabrera was awarded $750,000 from the hospital. Liew said that despite the verdict, "It's very important for the world to know what happened to him. Hopefully, it will save lives."
Liew's lawyer, Daniel Buttafucco, said that medical privacy laws had kept Dr. Thomas Diflo from learning that donor Sandy Cabrera had cancer. He also blamed Liew's first lawyer for suing the doctor who performed the transplant rather than the New York Organ Donor Network. He told the Daily News, "We did what we could do. We were forced to try a case against the most innocent guy of all."
Donor Sandy Cabrera's uterine cancer was only revealed in an autopsy two weeks after her death of a stroke. Instead of removing the kidney instantly, Dr. Diflo informed Vincent Liew of the risk of contracting the cancer, but Liew allegedly wanted to keep the kidney in. NYU lawyer Robert Elliott said, "Medicine is not cut and dry. Doctors are forced to make difficult decisions."
