University of Toledo Medical Centre nurse accidentally throws away kidney from living donor

A nurse accidentally disposed of a kidney from a living donor at a US hospital which later suspended its kidney transplant programme.

The University of Toledo Medical Centre, Ohio, suspended the programme after the botched transplant earlier this month.

The Blade newspaper reported that a kidney donated by a man to his older sister was thrown away with medical waste in what experts described as a rare accident.

The Toledo-Lucas County health commissioner confirmed that a nurse disposed of the kidney.

A hospital official said doctors tried unsuccessfully for at least two hours to resuscitate the organ in an attempt to make it usable.

The hospital blamed "human error" and suspended two operating-room nurses.

It is unclear what happened to the intended kidney recipient.