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Organ donor's surgery death sparks questions

By CNN  
   April 09, 2012

Paul Hawks, an electrician for the Florida Department of Transportation, was one of more than 4,500 people in the United States in the past 25 years who have donated a section of their liver while still alive. Death is rare—besides Paul, three other donors have died since 1999. The relatives of the other donors—they died in 1999, 2002 and 2010 —have gone public, but this is the first time Lorraine has discussed her husband's death. The Department of Public Health report gives a rare and gruesome picture of a surgical procedure gone horribly wrong. The department's account is based on medical records, operating room communications and two days of interviews with the attending transplant surgeon and other doctors, nurses and administrators.

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