The recipient of a kidney infected with hepatitis C and the original kidney donor filed… The recipient of a kidney infected with hepatitis C and the original kidney donor filed negligence lawsuits against UPMC Presbyterian hospital and University of Pittsburgh Physicians Tuesday.

Michael Yocabet, the kidney recipient, and Christina Mecannic, the kidney donor, are suing UPMC and UPP after an April kidney transplant during which doctors transplanted Mecannic’s hepatitis C-infected kidney into Yocabet. The two have been together for 21 years and have an 18-year-old son.

The suits were filed by the Greene County couple in the Civil Division of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh and seeks an unspecified amount of money in damages. The plaintiffs’ attorneys, Harry S. Cohen & Associates, filed the complaints.

The suits, each of which contain 12 counts against UPMC and UPP, charge that UPMC and UPP knew of the infected state of the kidney and allowed the procedure to go on.

“Had anybody from UPMC’s transplant program, whether it be a physician, nurse, coordinator, technician, assistant, etc., followed standard federal guidelines and/or hospital police at numerous different junctures along the way, Ms. Mecannic’s hepatitis C test result would have been obvious (it should have been ‘flagged’)…” the complaint said.

The counts include various acts of professional negligence, corporate negligence, intentional and negligent misrepresentation and nondisclosure and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

UPMC released a statement denying any allegations of a cover-up.

“Once the error was discovered, UPMC disclosed the information to the patients involved and UNOS [United Network for Organ Sharing],” it said.

As a result of the transplant, UNOS and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, federal agencies that oversee organ transplants, both conducted federal investigations into UPMC’s transplant program.

The investigations concluded that UPMC and UPP had a minimum of six chances to review the test results and stop the transplants. The UNOS investigation also concluded that incident was a result of “human error.”

UPMC spokeswoman Jennifer Yates said that because of the investigation, the program was shut down for approximately two months from early May to mid-July.

Yocabet and Mecannic do not seek a specific amount of damages, but the suits call for “compensatory and punitive damages … in an amount in excess of the jurisdictional limits of compulsory arbitration, excluding costs and interest.”

The plaintiffs claim the incident occurred because “negligent, reckless, willfull and wanton conduct” took place.

The lawsuit said that Mecannic volunteered to undergo testing at UPMC in January 2011 to determine if she was a suitable candidate for the kidney donation. She underwent blood tests, which revealed that she was positive for hepatitis C. The suit states that UPMC failed to order follow-up testing after the blood test results and also failed to inform Mecannic and Yocabet about the hepatitis C results.

Various UPMC and UPP physicians, nurses and technicians reviewed the results, and Mecannic was considered to be a “reasonable donor candidate.” In February, a UPMC transplant Selection Committee meeting took place, and according to the suits, the defendants “recklessly ignored the hepatitis C” test results and gave their approval for her to be a donor. The surgery took place on April 6.

The suit states that the donor and recipient did not learn of the hepatitis C infections until May 6, one month after the surgery took place. A UPMC and UPP physician met with Mecannic, in a session that she called “insulting.”

The surgeon asked her “whether she had been sexually unfaithful to or ‘cheated on’ Mr. Yocabet,” or if she used cocaine, which could cause her to develop hepatitis C. The surgeon then informed Mecannic that she had hepatitis C and offered her the option of not telling Yocabet about the test results, an idea that she rejected.

Editor’s note: read the lawsuit complaints here and here.