London - A man whose healthy kidney was mistakenly removed by a surgeon was expected to die within days, hospital sources said yesterday. "His condition is just so critical that it's really very likely that he'll die," sources said at the Morriston Hospital in Swansea.
An official spokesman for the hospital confirmed that Mr Graham Reeves (69) was still in intensive care in a critical condition. Mr Reeves was transferred to Morriston after undergoing the operation at the Prince Philip Hospital in Llanelli, south Wales.
He underwent surgery on Monday to remove a diseased kidney. But the surgeon, Mr John Roberts (58), took out Mr Reeves's healthy kidney by mistake, leaving him with just the damaged organ. Hospital officials launched an inquiry and Mr Roberts was suspended from his normal duties. Camarthenshire NHS Trust, which has started an inquiry into the kidney surgery, said it was also investigating another operation conducted by Mr Roberts after which the patient died from complications.