Hospital Found Liable Following Death of Heart Transplant Patient

By Brittany Golledge

Published on December 14, 2005

A Cook County jury has awarded $2.7 million to the family of a man who died after receiving a diseased heart during transplant surgery at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois.

Carl Longnecker was admitted to Loyola University Medical Center for heart transplant surgery in June of 2001. Doctors proceeded to open his chest, remove his heart, and prep him to receive a new heart from a 46-year-old donor. According to reports, the doctor who performed Carl's surgery removed the donor heart from its cooler only to discover that the heart showed signs of disease. Because Longnecker's heart had already been removed, doctors decided to place the new heart in his chest. He died three days later from complications.

Carl Longnecker's widow, Connie Longnecker, filed suit after discovering language in an autopsy report which suggested that her husband's donor heart appeared diseased prior to implantation. Her attorneys helped prove to the jury that the donated heart had been weakened by arteriosclerosis and hypertrophy. She later discovered that the donor patient was a smoker and drinker who had been suffering form hypertension.

In a decision reached Monday, the jury criticized Loyola Hospital for failing to instruct one of its transplant doctors to examine the heart while it was outside of the donor's body. The doctor who examined the donor heart and approved it for use was not found liable.

The hospital has denied that any malpractice occurred and will contest the verdict. Hospital attorneys maintain that the heart was not diseased and only showed signs of mild abnormalities.

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