This is a sad story that once again brings national attention to mistakes that are made due to the dire need for transplant organs in the U.S.

The story began when a 14-year old boy took ill and died from what doctors thought was bacterial meningitis – the deadliest form of meningitis.

Alex Koehne was given a course of IV antibiotics that was supposed to kill the deadly bacteria and prevent the bacteria from reaching his vital organs.

After his death, doctors harvested his organs (at his parents request) and transplanted the organs into four recipients.

But what doctors thought was bacterial meningitis turned out to be a rare form of lymphoma (cancer). A 52-year-old man who received Alex’s liver was the first to die of cancer followed in quick succession by the death of a 36-year-old woman who received Alex’s pancreas.

Doctors removed Alex’s kidneys from two other transplant recipients but those patients are now fighting cancer.

“Our jaws dropped,” said the boy’s father Jim Koehne. “We walked out of there crying.”

Experts say this kind of tragedy is rare. But mistakes are occurring with more frequency due to the urgency to find transplant organs for patients on waiting lists all over the country. (Source)