Banner UMC Performs First Robotic Kidney Donor Surgery In Southern Arizona, Cutting Recovery And Boosting Access

Banner UMC Performs First Robotic Living-Donor kidney Procedure In Tucson

USA: Banner UMC in Tucson has performed its first robotic-assisted living-donor kidney removal, a milestone the hospital says could speed recovery and broaden access to transplantation. The operation involved sisters Paula Haywood and 34-year-old Clarissa Choza; Clarissa, who has battled lupus since her teens, was diagnosed with stage five kidney failure last May and joined more than 2,100 Arizonans on the transplant waitlist.

Surgeons used a robotic arm to perform small-incision donor nephrectomies designed to minimize tissue trauma and shorten hospitalization. Two donors associated with the new program went home the next day instead of remaining a week in the hospital, and Banner reports that four more robotic procedures have already been completed since February with ten additional surgeries scheduled, including patients traveling from around the country. The transplantation team is led by Dr. Ramesh Baltra.

The center framed the shift to robotic techniques as a way to remove barriers to living donation. Hospital leaders and transplant surgeons say less invasive donor surgery can encourage more people to consider donation at a time when nearly 92,000 people are on the national transplant waiting list and only about 30% of candidates receive an organ in a given year.

For the Choza family, the change was urgent: Paula stepped forward to be a living donor rather than risk losing another sibling. The sisters recovered at home closer to family, and the program’s advocates say expanding robotic approaches could increase living donation and shorten recovery for future transplant recipients and donors.

Video originally published on 2026-03-24 10:50:00