The death of a donor at UCSF Medical Center has resulted in UCSF suspending it living donor program for kidney transplants. The death has bought forward the exceptional complexities associated with the kidney transplantation. The death of the donor, who gave his kidney in October 2015, occurred at the centre in November.

The cause of death is being investigated by the hospital and regulatory officials. It is not certain as of now whether the death result due to underlying medical condition associated with the organ procurement surgery or some other cause. The suspension of UCSF’s program was proposed by the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network after the hospital reported the death. The program will remain suspended throughout the investigation process, according to the organization’s spokesperson, Joel Newman. The incident has been described as a nightmare by Dr. Steven Katznelson, Medical Director of California Pacific Medical Center’s kidney transplantation program in San Francisco.

The hospital has reported that the patient who received the kidney from the deceased donor is stable as the transplanted kidney is working properly. However, the hospital has denied revealing the identity of both the donor and the recipient. The patients who receive kidney from living donors have better chances of positive outcomes as compared to those who receive it from deceased donors. The risk of donor’s death after kidney transplant surgery is approximately .03%. In 2014, two deaths of kidney donors were reported in the U.S., while another two have died in 2015.

UCSF, which undertakes approximately 350 transplantations each year, will not perform the donor portion of the transplant surgeries. However, it will carry on kidney transplantation from living and deceased donors.