For the first time in the U.S. since AIDS screening began 25 years ago, an organ recipient at a city hospital has contracted HIV from a live donor. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the male kidney donor passed the initial screening, but in between the screening and the donation in 2009, had unprotected sex with another man. Testing on the patient a year after surgery confirmed he or she had contracted HIV. more ›

A Bronx woman is suing Jacobi Medical Center and the New York Organ Donor Network for $5 million, claiming they never asked her consent before harvesting her mother's organs after she died of a heart attack last year. Jo Drever says she found that doctors took her mother's organs after receiving a thank you call from the New York Organ Donor Network. But the Network says they didn't even get Margaret Lanza's organs. more ›

Widow Kimberly Liew, whose husband Vincent died in 2002 after contracting uterine cancer from an infected kidney transplant, was shocked when a judge ruled that NYU Medical Center was not liable for Vincent's death. Liew, who was suing for $3 million, won't receive any money, even though the family of another patient who died after receiving a diseased organ from donor Sandy Cabrera was awarded $750,000 from the hospital. Liew said that despite the verdict, "It's very important for the world to know what happened to him. Hopefully, it will save lives." more ›

On trial for transplanting a cancerous kidney into patient Vincent Liew, Dr. Thomas Diflo attempted to argue yesterday that he was not to blame for Liew's death. Diflo says Liew was "adamant" that he keep the kidney, despite being told of the risks. Liew allegedly did not want to go back on dialysis. However, Dr. Diflo became offended at the suggestion that his statement blames Liew for the wrongful-death, saying in court, "I had great affection for Mr. Liew and his opinions. To even float the idea that I blamed him for his death is ridiculous." more ›

Though the United Network for Organ Sharing didn't have time to check recipient Vincent Liew's new kidney, it's not like they had any warning: donor Sandy Cabrera didn't even know she had cancer. After suffering a stroke, she was raced to St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital in Newburgh, where doctors said she would never recover, and spoke to Cabrera's daughter about organ donation. more ›

Marta Curro, Jerry Orbach's first wife, is defending her son's recent vitriolic letter to his step-mother, which was leaked to the Post. The letter accuses Orbach's second wife Elaine Cancilla-Orbach of screwing Chris Orbach and his brother out of the $10 million estate left by their father, which they can't dip into until she dies. (The letter also blames Cancilla-Orbach for manipulating Orbach to donate his eyes after his death.) But the 75-year-old Curro, who was married to Orbach for 17 years and remained close with the actor after their divorce, says her son is right to be angry at wife #2: "She's funny looking and she wears polyester pantsuits, and that just makes me laugh. There's nothing funnier to me than stupid people being evil, because they put a tack on your chair and expect it to kill you." more ›

In an extremely angry letter to his stepmother, Jerry Orbach's son Chris blames her for the television detective's decision to donate the gift of sight to two New Yorkers. In a letter that was meant to be private but was leaked yesterday to the NY Post, Chris paints a nasty picture of Jerry Orbach's widow, Elaine Cancilla-Orbach, calling her a "double-dealing, lying, scheming, miserable fool." more ›