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Texas Man Says Surgeons Removed Wrong Kidney

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM/AP) -- A North Texas man is seeking more than $1 million in damages after he says surgeons misdiagnosed his condition and mistakenly removed a healthy kidney -- not his cancerous one.

Glenn Hermes of Arlington told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that a pathology report was misread, causing the error.

Hermes was initially diagnosed with a mass on his "left kidney", which was removed by the defendant in the suit. After a pathological diagnosis revealed no mass on the removed tissue, doctors realized that the mass was actually on his right kidney.

A portion of his right kidney has been removed because of the cancer, further limiting his kidney function.

The 55-year-old Hermes filed a lawsuit this week against his urologist and a radiologist for malpractice and gross negligence. The lawsuit claims Hermes was "greatly shocked, stunned, depressed, and otherwise emotionally traumatized and distressed" by the mistake.

He's waiting to see if he will need dialysis, a transplant or expensive drugs to maintain his health.

But Hermes must be cancer-free for five years before he's eligible for a transplant, and there's no guarantee the operation would be successful.

(©2014 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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