ET

Greek hospital stole our son's kidney, say parents of British accident victim (Filed: 09/09/2001)

A FURIOUS international row has broken out over a British family's fears that their son, who died on a holiday in Greece, had one of his kidneys stolen for sale on the black market, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.

The parents of Chris Rochester, 24, who died after falling from a balcony, are demanding that the Greek government explain why their son's left kidney was missing when his body was returned to England in June last year. When a kidney was finally sent to them by the Greek authorities after months of pressure from the Foreign Office, DNA tests found it to be that of a stranger.

The Telegraph learned last night that the family's anxieties are escalating into a full-blown diplomatic row. Their MEP, Stephen Hughes, who represents the North-East, is seeking urgent talks with the Greek ministers of health and justice to demand the whereabouts of the kidney. Mr Hughes is also calling for action to be taken against staff at the Rhodes hospital in connection with their treatment of Mr Rochester while he was alive.

Kevan Jones, MP for North Durham, is also pressing the Foreign Office to make the Greeks reveal the true facts of the case. Mr Rochester's mother, Pam Cummings, 44, and stepfather George Cummings, 42, fear that foul play is behind the disappearance of Mr Rochester's kidney. The hospital has denied the allegation.

The family's fears have been heightened by reports of an international black market in human organs, which are sold to desperate transplant patients at prices of up to £100,000. A so-called "organ mafia" is believed to be making millions of pounds by smuggling organs to buyers in countries such as Israel, Greece and the US.

Mr Cummings, of Chester-le-Street, Co Durham, said: "If a recipient has got Chris's kidney and knows nothing about where it came from then we wish him a long, happy and healthy life.

"We wish him the exact opposite if he knew where the kidney came from and paid money for it. Who is looking for Chris's kidney now? No one. Where is Chris's kidney? It has vanished off the face of the earth. It could be walking around inside somebody, it could have been incinerated, it could be sitting in a jar at Rhodes hospital. We don't know.

"We want to know what has happened to Chris's kidney and we want one day to be able to bury it with him." Mr Rochester's body was returned to England a week after his death in June last year. It was after a post-mortem examination in Dryburn Hospital, Durham, that doctors discovered his left kidney was missing.

When inquiries were made, the Greek authorities said that they removed the kidney to carry out further post-mortem tests. British doctors have told the Cummings that they could not understand why such a procedure was necessary.

Mr and Mrs Cummings had to apply to their local MP and persuade the Foreign Office and British Consulate to exert pressure on the Greek authorities before a kidney was sent to them three and a half months later. By then they were so suspicious that they ordered a DNA test.

John Burn, Professor of Clinical Genetics at the University of Newcastle, who tested the organ, told the family that the kidney did not belong to their son. Since that DNA test in January this year, the family say they have received no adequate explanation of what happened to their son.

Mr Cummings said last night: "We have been treated terribly. As I see it, there are three possibilities. First, the kidney has been genuinely mislaid. The Greeks seem to say this must have been done by the British Consul in Rhodes or the Foreign Office in London. I find this laughable.

"Secondly, it has been disposed of because, if a British doctor looked at it, it would disprove what the Greeks are saying about the cause of death. Thirdly, until I lay eyes on Chris's kidney there is the possibility that it was taken illegally for transplantation. Then of course there is the question of exactly whose kidney is still being kept in Dryburn Hospital."

Even before the kidney was missed, there was concern about the treatment received by Mr Rochester in hospital after his fall. A British coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death but criticised the "clear neglect" of medical staff at Rhodes Regional General Hospital after hearing evidence that he was denied proper medical attention when he was admitted.

Michael Balanos, the president of Rhodes General, described the claims as "preposterous, if not malicious" and said that they had proof that the correct kidney had been given to the British consul. "A sworn inquest has concluded that there was no responsibility for Mr Rochester's death on behalf of the ambulance personnel, the doctors, the nurses or anybody else. We all did everything we could and as quickly as we could.

"Concerning the alleged misuse or trading of the kidney, that's absolute nonsense. We did no such thing and don't even have a department for transplants of organs to other patients.

"What happened simply is that when the body was sent home for burial, we naturally kept the damaged kidney back for further, even more thorough examinations."

Mrs Demetriades, a clerk at the British consulate in Rhodes and the wife of the British consul, said: "I personally took the kidney and sent it directly to the hospital in the UK. The consulate is not a laboratory and there is no chance that I mixed it up with another kidney.

-- Anonymous, September 08, 2001