Couple Files Suit After Doctors Remove Wrong Kidney

After he was diagnosed with kidney cancer in January of last year, Glenn Hermes put his trust where many patients do — in his doctor. “When you’re told you have cancer – it’s shocking right away. But I trusted Dr. Stroud to have the right treatment plan for me.”

Hermes said he agreed to let his urologist, Doctor Robert Stroud remove his left kidney. The surgery seemed successful, but then… “He came in and said he needed to talk to us. From that moment when he said those words until he said, ‘I took the wrong kidney out’ it was devastating. I can’t even tell you.”

Instead of removing the left kidney with cancer, Hermes says his doctor told him he took out the healthy one. His wife, Bernadette, was in shock. “I said, ‘how could this have happened?’” IN this modern age of medicine Bernadette didn’t think that type of mistake was possible. “He just kept saying, ‘I’m sorry. I know. I’m sorry,’” she remembered.

The Arlington couple is now suing Dr. Stroud, who performed the surgery, and Dr. David Fenyes, the radiologist who they say misread the kidney x-ray. Glenn Hermes said matter-of-factly. “I have three-quarters of a kidney left.”

A different doctor ultimately removed the cancer, but now the 55-year-old must wait four more years to be eligible for a transplant. Every day, Hermes says he fears the future. “I’m a business man. I’ve got grandkids. I’m at the prime of my life… just a lot of things going through my mind.”

Glenn Hermes and his wife both say the lawsuit they filed isn’t about money. They say it’s to guarantee the family’s future if Glenn’s cancer should return before he can get a transplant.

Thanks to CBSDFW.COM.