Woman dies of lung cancer after receiving transplant from smoker
Jennifer Wederell, 27, had no idea her lungs came from someone 'who smoked 20 cigarettes a day' when she received the transplant. She died from lung cancer the following year. Now her family wants to raise awareness about the organ shortage and encourage healthy donors to sign up.

BY RHEANA MURRAY / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Published: Wednesday, December 19, 2012, 12:06 PM

Updated: Wednesday, December 19, 2012, 1:49 PM



Jennifer Wederell of Essex, England died from lung cancer in August.

A 27-year-old woman battling cystic fibrosis and clinging to life thought she got a second chance when she received a lung transplant in April 2011.

But the lungs were from a heavy smoker, and Jennifer Wederell, of England, contracted cancer and died the following year, BBC News reported.

"She was dying a death that was meant for someone else," said the young woman's father, Colin Grannell.

He says his daughter would have refused the transplant had she known the lungs came from a smoker.

But Wederell had no idea.

"The shock immediately turned to anger in so far as all the risks were explained in the hour before her transplant and not once was the fact that smoker's lungs would be used mentioned," Grannell said.

A Facebook page describes how the Essex woman married months before she was diagnosed with lung cancer in February 2012. That's when she learned her lungs came from someone who "smoked 20 cigarettes a day."

Despite Wederell's "fighting spirit," the disease had already spread throughout her body, and she was dead in August.

Harefield Hospital in London apologized to Wederell's family and called the situation an "oversight," but legally did no wrong.

Hospitals aren't required to divulge every detail about a potential donor's history, so long as the organ is healthy.

"You don't go through detailed histories of smoking, all that kind of stuff," Dr. Roblee Allen, professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at UC Davis, told the Daily News. "You tell them that the patient is free of any diseases, but the specifics aren't necessarily reviewed."

There's also the issue of donor privacy, Allen said.

While doctors have access to the medical history, families don't always want their loved ones' private details shared with a stranger.

Organs up for donation often come from smokers.

"A lot of people have smoking histories and donate," Allen said. "Does that put them at significant risk of developing lung cancer? Yeah, it does."

"You might say, 'These are not ideal lungs,' but you might not get another opportunity," he added.

Arthur Caplan, head of medical ethics at NYU, says Wederell should have been notified about the donor's status as a smoker anyway.

"The burden is on the transplant team to disclose significant risks, not on the patient to remember to ask," Caplan told the Daily News.

Because transplant lists are so long and the need for organs is so great - Wederell waited 18 months - many patients jump at the first opportunity, regardless of the status of the organ.

"The real truth in transplants is that most people aren't going to pass up an organ - even a high-risk one - because they're so hard to get," Caplan said. "Especially lungs. They're rare."

Wederell's family launched a campaign called Jennifer's Choice to raise awareness about the organ shortage and encourage non-smokers to sign up as donors.

rmurray@nydailynews.com



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