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Friday, June 30, 2006

Courts - Kentucky federal magistrate donates kidney to U.S. prosecutor

Andrew Wolfson of the Louisville Courier Journal reports today on the transplant. Some quotes:

A spokesman for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts in Washington, Dick Carelli, said he'd never before heard of a federal judge donating an organ to an attorney who appears in his court.

Though kidney transplants are not uncommon -- 16,476 were performed in the U.S. last year -- there is some risk to the donor. About 6 in 10,000 die, and complications can include bleeding, infections and blood clots.

"It is not something that you do lightly," said Dr. Rosemary Ouseph, a kidney transplant doctor at the University of Louisville.

But U.S. District Judge Joseph Hood, the chief judge of the Eastern District of Kentucky, said Wehrman's sacrifice came as no surprise:

"Greg Wehrman is a man of strong principles. He told me if that if your faith doesn't allow you to do this, what kind of faith do you have?"

U.S. District Judge David Bunning said: "Very seldom can you say you had a hand in saving somebody's life, and Judge Wehrman can say that. The court family is very proud of Greg." * * *

Wehrman said he saw Walbourn almost every day at the courthouse, and "I watched him deteriorate -- you could tell by the color of his skin that he was in bad shape. It wasn't unusual to look down at him from the bench and see his eyes closed."

One day in the summer of 2004, the judge recalled, Walbourn asked for permission to carry a beeper in court -- so he could be alerted instantly if a cadaver kidney became available. "I said, 'E.J., if you need a donor, I would be glad to volunteer,' " Wehrman said.

Given that the two knew each other strictly on a professional basis -- Walbourn had been to the judge's house one time, 10 years earlier, to get him to sign a search warrant -- "I thought he was incredibly generous," Walbourn said. "I mean, I never would have approached anybody and said, 'Would you give me your kidney?' " * * *

Diane Wehrman, the judge's wife, had never met Walbourn, but she said she fully supported her husband's decision -- as did his four adult daughters.

"Sure, I was nervous, hoping everything would turn out OK," she said. "But I thought it was wonderful."

Lawyers in Northern Kentucky also have hailed Wehrman for his sacrifice -- and joked about whether he can be impartial to a lawyer whose life he saved.

"I told the judge how impressed I was with what he did," said Covington lawyer Gary Sergent, "but that now I am going to have to advise my clients that his fairness is in question because he and E.J. are now a genetic match."

To avoid even the appearance of a conflict, Walbourn said he stopped appearing before the judge once he agreed to the donation last November. And the two agreed that Walbourn won't appear in his court in the future on any matter requiring the judge's discretion.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 30, 2006 09:02 AM
Posted to Courts in general