Father's liver transplant 'wrong'

Nadine Woods said her father David is desperate to die Photo: Mason's News Agency

The daughter of a mentally ill patient has accused the NHS of wasting a liver transplant on her father after he tried to commit suicide.

Nadine Woods said her father David, from Cambridge but originally from Powys, has a mental age of six after a suicide attempt in 2006.

She said doctors were wrong to give him a life-saving transplant hours later.

But surgeons acted on the advice of a psychiatrist, who said Mr Woods had a good quality of life when healthy.

Ms Woods, 29, believes the healthy liver should have been used to save the life of another patient, rather than trapping her brain-damaged father in a ''living hell''.

He received surgery at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, where he now lives, but he is originally from Llansantffraid, near Welshpool.

My dad has not had a day's happiness since the operation Nadine Woods

He suffered mental health problems following a painkiller overdose in December 2006.

Mr Woods spent six weeks in a coma after his transplant operation and suffered brain damage.

It means he can no longer drive, clean or cook for himself, and requires 24-hour care in a specialist care home.

Ms Woods said: "I never wanted to lose my dad but I also never wanted him to be saved.

"If they had asked the family, who care and know him, we would have asked for him to be put to rest.

"My dad has not had a day's happiness since the operation. There has not been one day when he thought 'I am glad to be alive'.

"All he thinks about is wanting to die. He is obsessive about it.

"It is shameful that a donor has wasted his liver and it's horrible to think someone else could have been enjoying a healthy life."

Mr Woods has suffered from increasingly serious bi-polar disorder and depression since the age of 16.

In 2006 following his overdose, Mr Woods was rushed to Addenbrooke's hospital where doctors said he would die within 24 hours from liver failure unless he had an immediate transplant.

Psychiatrist

Ms Woods said: '"By the time we got to Cambridge they had operated. I did not understand why he had been given a transplant."

Dr Tom Dening, medical director of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Foundation Trust who appoint psychiatrists, said doctors would always err on the side of life.

He said: "You always have to give life the benefit of the doubt.

"If someone comes into A&E having decided to take their own life they are referred for a mental health assessment by a psychiatrist.

"Doctors might not be able to get the patient's consent for transplant. They would ideally consult the family but it is not the family's decision and sometimes there is simply not time to wait.

"A liver transplant is a huge operation especially if the patient has an acutely failing liver. This patient appears to have been very unfortunate in having post-op complications."