Suit: Medication following kidney transplant caused man's cancer

The family of a Cook County man who died in 2012 is suing over claims his cancer was caused by high doses of immunosuppression medication following a kidney transplant.

Vanessa Johnson, individually and as independent administrator of the Estate of Timothy Johnson, filed a wrongful death lawsuit Aug. 7 in the Cook County Circuit Court against Loyola University Medical Center and Dr. Vinod K. Bansal.

According to the complaint, Timothy underwent a successful related living donor kidney transplant at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago in 1991 at the age of 17.

The defendants managed Timothy's immunosuppression medication, which the suit states are critical to ongoing follow-up treatment following a transplant, from 1995 until 2012, when Johnson was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. He died Aug. 12, 2012 as a result of the cancer.

Johnson contends that high doses of immunosuppression medication contributed to Timothy's compromised immune system and cancer. She further alleges that Timothy showed several signs of over-immunosuppression in the years before his cancer diagnosis.

Johnson is seeking damages in excess of the jurisdictional requisite and is being represented in the case by attorney Peter D. Hoste of Leahy & Hoste in Chicago.

Cook County Circuit Court Case No. 2014L008295.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed in the Cook County Circuit Court. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note, a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt, and it only represents one side of the story.