Dad’s kidney transplant abandoned after mid-surgery fire sprinkler in Royal Adelaide Hospital theatre

Frank Lopresto was “sliced open” when water came flooding into the operating theatre – forcing doctors to abandon his life-changing kidney transplant.

Frank Lopresto, 53, will face an agonising wait for a new kidney after the RAH's sprinkler system was set off mid-surgery. Picture: Supplied

A Rostrevor dad faces an agonising wait after a life-changing kidney transplant was abandoned when a sprinkler system went off during surgery at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

After three years on a waitlist, Frank Lopresto was lying open on the operating table on Wednesday afternoon to receive a new kidney when the theatre was flooded by fire sprinklers, contaminating the donor organ.

“I would say it was a million-to-one scenario, but I’ve never heard of this, ever,” Mr Lopresto said.

The 53-year-old father was diagnosed 14 years ago with IgA Nephropathy, an immune condition that attacks kidney tissue, and placed on dialysis in 2020 – just after his 50th birthday.

On Monday, Mr Lopresto received a call from his doctor saying a donor match had become available.

“He said ‘Hey, we’ve got a really good candidate. He’s your blood type, he’s a young guy, he’s a very good match for your tissue type’ – all the planets were aligning,” Mr Lopresto said.

“So I arrived on Tuesday to be dialysed, then the surgeons came in and said they’d do the surgery midmorning on Wednesday morning.”

Wednesday’s surgery was Mr Lopresto’s third attempt at securing a donor kidney, with the first transplant halted by Covid isolation and the second ending up an unsuitable match.

The 53-year-old was wheeled in for surgery at about 1.30pm, but the operation was halted when the hospital’s sprinkler system was set off inside the theatre.

“They had started operating – slicing into me – and then the fire sprinklers went off. It wasn’t just a couple of sprinkles, it was a good inch of water,” Mr Lopresto said.

“I was wet and opened – because you’re on immunosuppressants, they had to quickly get me out of the theatre and wash me out with Betadine and saline to try and prevent an infection.

Mr Lopresto has been left frustrated by the situation and is now recovering at the RAH – with nothing to show for it. Picture: Matt Loxton

“But because the kidney got wet, it was contaminated and they didn’t want to risk putting it in.”

Now searching for answers, a devastated Mr Lopresto faces an anxious wait for another donor organ to become available and a long road to recovery – and “a scar with nothing in it”.

“It’ll be two weeks before I can drive and about six weeks before I can go back to work, with nothing to show for it,” he said.

“It could be weeks, it could be a year before another kidney comes up.”

SA Health said the cause of the fire system being “unexpectedly activated” was still under investigation but has since launched an urgent review of its fire sprinkler heads.

A Central Adelaide Local Health Network (CALHN) spokesperson said steps would be taken to ensure a similar incident did not happen again and apologised to Mr Lopresto and his family.

“Staff managed the difficult circumstances well, and while the patient’s immediate health was not impacted, strict clinical sanitation protocols need to be followed,” they said.

“We sincerely apologise to the patient and their family and acknowledge that this has caused a great deal of distress for everyone involved. The patient will remain on the transplant list and we will continue to provide care ongoing.”