Mr. Kim, who is in his mid-fifties this year, lost function of one of his kidneys due to vascular stenosis about 25 years ago. And in 2014, he was diagnosed with renal failure at St. Mary’s Hospital of the Catholic University of Seoul and started peritoneal dialysis the following year.
To make matters worse, Kim was diagnosed with early-stage kidney cancer in 2019 and removed the remaining kidney from his body.
Due to this condition, Mr. Kim has completely lost the function of his kidneys and is unable to urinate. That’s why Mr. Kim’s body swells in the afternoon because he can’t release his physical by-products like urine. Mr. Kim spends eight hours at home every night on peritoneal dialysis to remove fluids and toxins from his body.
Still, Mr. Kim had hopes and expected to get a kidney transplant someday to live a normal life like everyone else.
This is because he had submitted documents for a kidney transplant to the hospital while receiving the dialysis procedure in 2015. For Mr. Kim, who lives alone without a family, the kidney transplant is urgent.
The average waiting time for a kidney transplant is approximately 5-6 years. Mr. Kim said that when asked how long to wait for the transplant, the medical staff would ask him how many years he had been waiting and since his 3rd or 4th year on dialysis, he said he would soon receive a kidney donation. .
In August last year, however, Mr Kim, who thought he could have a transplant soon, received some shocking news: he had not been registered as a candidate for a kidney transplant.
Mr. Kim said: “When I was hospitalized six years ago, the hospital told me to register as a transplant patient, so I filled it out and provided the appropriate documentation. but when I recently checked into the hospital I was not registered.
This was due to an error by the hospital. A hospital official explained: “The organ transplant center is responsible for registering organ transplant candidates, but it appears that Mr. Kim was not accidentally registered in 2015
The official said: “The medical staff, who confirmed the patient’s intention to enroll in a transplant, should have delivered the information to the organ transplant center, but it did not. We apologize
Mr. Kim, who learned too late that he was not registered, registered as a transplant candidate last year. However, according to the Statistical Yearbook of Organ Transplantation and Human Tissue Donation (2019), 25,465 patients are waiting for a kidney transplant like Mr. Kim, and the mean waiting time for transplants is 2,196 days. therefore Mr. Kim has to wait another 5 to 6 years.
Mr. Kim asked Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital and the National Institute of Long-term Tissue Blood Management, which oversees organ transplants, to adjust his waiting time, but was declined, saying it was impossible.
He also filed a complaint with the hospital for having to wait many years for a kidney transplant due to a hospital error. However, the hospital is showing no signs of a willingness to correct their mistake.
Additionally, the Medical Dispute Mediation Arbitration Service says there is no way to help with this problem because it is not a medical accident.
Seoul Catholic University St. Mary’s Hospital offered KRW 20 million (~ $ 18,063.60) in damages to Mr Kim, who now has many years to wait for a kidney transplant.
Mr. Kim said: “I just want related agencies to come up, acknowledge the mistake the hospital made and correct them