A New York woman died during a kidney transplant operation she was undergoing in order to donate the organ to her younger brother, ABC News reports.
Yolanda Medina, a 41-year-old mother of three, bled to death on the operating table after her aorta was sliced during surgery, according to the New York Post.
Roberto Medina, who suffered from renal failure and has been on kidney dialysis since February, never received his sister's kidney. However, the hospital did find a kidney donation match for Medina from a deceased donor late Wednesday night. But now, Roberto is overcome with guilt and grief.
"It's just tough on me ... because she lost her life trying to save mine," Medina told the New York Post. "And that's really what is killing me every day."
In response, Montefiore Hospital voluntarily suspended its Live Donor Organ Transplant Program, according to ABC News.
Meanwhile, the state health department has launched an investigation into the death of Yolanda, the first person in the hospital's live organ donor program to die in more than four decades and 1,000 operations.
"This is a heartbreaking situation in so many ways, and our hearts are with the patient’s family during this difficult time," Julie Halpin of Sunshine Sachs, the firm representing the hospital, told the New York Daily News.
The Medina family is now planning to sue and has hired medical malpractice attorney Ben Rubinowitz to handle their case.