A GRIEVING son was stunned when he received a letter confirming he was suitable to donate a kidney to his mother – almost three weeks after she had died.

Sheila Freeman, 63, was on the waiting list for a transplant but she died at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital on August 1.

A few days after her funeral, Mrs Freeman’s son Tony Hood received a letter from the hospital at his home in Gillingham telling him his blood type was compatible and asking him to go for a meeting to discuss being a donor for his mother.

Hospital officials have now apologised for the error, stating that they didn’t realise Mrs Freeman, who lived in Rochester, had died. The hospital has now introduced a new system which should ensure this situation doesn’t arise again.

Mr Hood, 36, an environmental cleaning operator, said: “I just felt sick when I opened the letter. The date on the letter was Friday, August 18, and it landed on my mat a couple of days later. We’d only just cremated mum.

“I can’t believe the hospital didn’t check their records and see that mum had passed away on East ward at their hospital.”

Mr Hood's sister Jackie, 38, of Melbourne Road, Chatham, added: “We never expected mum to die. She was making good progress, so the shock of her death hit us all very hard. The letter just added to our pain. It was heartbreaking to read.

A spokesman for the East Kent Hospital’s NHS Trust, said: “We are extremely sorry that we caused Mr Hood distress by writing to him in connection with a proposed transplant for his mother shortly after she had died.

“We were not aware of her death, otherwise, of course, no letter would have been sent.

“Until now we have not had a system in place for checking whether or not a proposed recipient was still alive before sending any letters in connection with the transplant process to a possible donor.

“This has not been necessary because potential organ recipients must be fit and well – apart from the specific problem – in order to undergo complex surgery.

“However, we want to ensure that this sort of problem does not happen again and have already introduced a new system under which our renal secretaries will be checking up on the situation of the proposed recipient before they send any letters to potential donors.”