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Published on January
31, 2007
© 2007- The Press Democrat
BYLINE: LORI A. CARTER
Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, two of its
doctors, a nurse and the hospital's transplant
program have been dropped as defendants in a
wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the family of a
Santa Rosa woman who died last year after
receiving a cancerous kidney.
The woman, Diane Jurrens, 48, contracted ovarian
cancer introduced by the transplant kidney, as
did a Southern California man who received the
donor's other kidney, according to the lawsuit
filed by Jurrens' husband, Darwin.
Court papers filed in the past month show the
deck of participants has been shuffled to
reflect a largely different group than when the
suit was originally filed in August.
Jurrens' attorneys have dismissed their claims
against the hospital, the hospital's transplant
center, Drs. Thomas Duckett and James Palleschi
and nurse Nancy Swick, who coordinated the
transplant center.
Claims also were dropped against the United
Network for Organ Sharing, which coordinates
organ procurement between hospitals nationwide.
Remaining as defendants are St. Joseph Health
System's Nephrology Associates and its Santa
Rosa physicians Desmond Shapiro, Gopa Green and
Benjamin Fritz.
The suit added as a defendant Gift of Life
Michigan, a nonprofit group that screens and
evaluates potential organ donors, and retrieves,
transports and tests organs and tissue for
transplant compatibility. It is based in Ann
Arbor.
Diane Jurrens' mother, Maria Dollinger of Guam,
is a new plaintiff in the case, along with
Jurrens' husband.
In papers filed Jan. 8, Jurrens and Dollinger
claim Gift of Life failed to adequately screen
the donor and kidney before facilitating the
transplant; failed to do a complete post-harvest
autopsy that could have revealed the donor's
cancer; and failed to perform reasonable tests
to exclude a diseased organ.
A pretrial ruling in the case has restricted the
damages that may be awarded to Darwin Jurrens or
Maria Dollinger for Diane Jurrens' emotional
distress.
Greg Spaulding, an attorney for Memorial
Hospital, said it was appropriate to drop the
hospital and others from the suit.
"The plaintiffs' attorneys realized that they
... were not the appropriate parties, that they
didn't have legal responsibility in the
matter,'' he said. "It's easy to name
someone in a lawsuit, but proving it is a
different story.''
The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages.
Trial dates haven't been set.
Richard Sax, Jurrens' attorney, couldn't be
reached for comment.
Memorial Hospital discontinued its kidney
transplant program in September, citing a low
number of patients and difficulty replacing
retiring doctors and nurses.
The lawsuit wasn't a factor in the closure,
hospital officials said.
You can reach Staff Writer Lori A. Carter at
568-5312 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com.
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