Dialysis patient weighs in on UTMC transplant mistake - 13abc.com Toledo (OH) News, Weather and Sports

Austin Klapp sits in one of these chairs 3 times a week hooked to a dialysis machine. Klapp tells 13abc, "I've had kidney problems my entire life and I was blessed to have 2 transplants from a mother and an aunt...when I was younger...and the second one lasted for a great many years...so I was able to avoid the dialysis process as a child because of that."

Eight years ago Austin's transplanted kidney failed and he's been on dialysis ever since, waiting for a donated organ. He tells 13abc, "the best way to describe it is it just kind of washes your body out your very exhausted."   

Dr. Kenneth Lempert is the Medical Director here at The Sylvania Dialysis Center. He says patients can live a very long time on dialysis. "Large groups of patients have been on dialysis for 10 years 20 years or more."

It may be good news for the victim of the UTMC botched kidney transplant. Sources tell 13abc, the victim was suppose to receive a kidney by her brother.  Austin was also given organs by two family members.

He tells 13abc, "I've been on the operating table, receiving a live kidney a kidney transplant and the hope, the expectation, and elation of that happening to be yanked away from you and realize that your going to have to go back to being sick for quite a while I can't imagine what she is dealing with emotional"  

While Austin's  heart goes out to the victim and her family, he also feels bad for UTMC,  He tells 13abc, "You've got a staff that's committed itself to helping people and doing life altering surgeries like this, I really feel for Dr. Rees all the way down we have no idea what happened but you just feel for everyone in this situation. "

Dr. Kenneth Lempert says he has referred patients to UTMC in the past. He believes UTMC needs to tell the public what went wrong. He tells 13abc, "One would have to think that there were multiple errors that went wrong in the process in the discarding of the kidney."