Colorado woman who claimed hospital removed healthy kidneys dies 9 months later

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Donors offer to help woman who had kidneys removed

Strangers come forward to donate their kidneys to woman who lost hers due to alleged medical mistake at University of Colorado Hospital where doctors reportedly thought she had cancer.

The 73-year-old woman who had both her healthy kidneys removed in what she had claimed was an erroneous procedure has died nine months after the surgery.

Linda Woolley, who was undergoing four hours of dialysis three days per week and was waiting to get on the national transplant waiting list, had filed a medical malpractice suit against the University of Colorado before her death.

According to a Fox31 investigation, a March 2018 biopsy report allegedly showed “no signs of malignancy,” but two months later surgeons removed both of Woolley’s healthy organs.

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"Privacy laws prevent us from providing information about patients," Jessica Berry, senior media relations specialist at the University of Colorado Hospital, said in an emailed statement to Fox News. "Unfortunately, this prevents us from responding to or addressing inaccuracies in news stories. Historically, we have been deeply concerned and disappointed in reporting by this Fox31/KDVR reporter and his inaccurate, incomplete and misleading stories.”

The story had received national attention, and the news station received offers from potential donors, but she died on Feb. 1. Before her death, she had encouraged people to donate their organs anyway, even if they weren’t a match for her O+ blood type.

“People are wonderful,” she previously told Fox 31. “It’s wonderful to see good things happen.”

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Woolley’s own daughter, Heidi Haines, was prepared to offer her a kidney as well. According to her family, Woolley suffered cardiac arrest and never recovered.

“I thought I was going to be able to fix it and now I won’t get the chance,” Haines told Q13Fox.

Haines and her sister, Jodi Fournier, told the news station that their mother would still be alive had her kidneys not been removed. Woolley had called the ordeal “terrifying,” adding that when you go to the hospital, “you trust that you’re going to be taken care of.” A spokesman told the news station at the time that the hospital did not “have any information” about the ongoing case.

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“Our deepest condolences go out to the family and loved ones,” a statement from the University of Colorado Hospital said following Woolley’s death, according to Q13Fox. “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.”