Woman Dead 9 Months After Her Healthy Kidneys Were Mistakenly Removed

A woman whose kidneys were removed in May by doctors who misdiagnosed her with cancer died Friday. Linda Woolley, 73, of Englewood, Colorado, suffered a cardiac arrest Thursday and remained unconscious before she was declared dead.

University of Colorado Hospital (UCH), which was responsible for convincing Woolley to get the surgery done, was sued for medical malpractice after the surgery, and could now end up facing a wrongful death lawsuit as well.

"Our deepest condolences go out to the family and loved ones. We are committed to providing the highest-quality care for our patients. Unfortunately, we are unable to discuss any specific patients because of federal and state laws that protect patients’ privacy,” the hospital said in a statement after Woolley’s death.

In an interview with Fox-affiliate KDVR in November, Woolley said she would not have agreed to get her kidneys removed, had the doctors at UCH not strongly advised her to do so despite her pathology report in March showing results "consistent with a benign process” and "no evidence of malignancy.”

With both her kidneys removed, Woolley had to resort to dialysis treatment thrice a week. Some time after the surgery, doctors confirmed she never had cancer, although UCH never went on record to clarify what led them to misdiagnose Woolley in the first place.

When investigative reporter Rob Low asked Woolley if she felt like UCH owed her an apology, she replied, “I feel like they owe me a kidney, that's for sure."

Woolley was planning to have her name registered on the country’s kidney transplant waiting list once she cleared a stress test scheduled for this week. After her November interview aired, an array of donors lined up to help out Woolley, but unfortunately, none of their blood type matched hers, which was O positive.

"Obviously I love that people are wanting to donate, that’s wonderful," Woolley said at the overwhelming support. “People are wonderful. It's wonderful to see good things happen. They can trade theirs (kidney) for somebody who’s got one that does match me."

Heidi Haines, Woolley’s youngest daughter, told KDVR she was in the process of giving her mother one of her kidneys, and added regretting not having the chance to do so, now that Woolley was death.

“It was bad enough when she was here and she was miserable, but [at least] she was here," she said.

Woolley’s oldest daughter, Jodi Fournier, said she firmly believed her mother would have been alive if UCH had not removed her kidneys.

"Absolutely," said Fournier. "There’s a few things the kidneys regulate, one of them being potassium. And when you don’t have them (kidneys) you have the dialysis that removes those toxins in your body. Her [potassium] levels were twice what they should’ve been and that ultimately caused the cardiac arrest."

“It hit me really hard that she’s not going to get to ride with me anymore... I'm really going to miss that. She was so happy when she was riding, she was free,” she added.