DENVER -- A routine kidney transplant that was supposed to take place Monday was cancelled after the doctor who was going to perform the operation said he had "ethical concerns" about the procedure because the donor and recipient met on the Internet.

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Man Who Needed Organ Transplant Reacts

Bob Hickey of Edwards, Colo., is in dire need a kidney transplant because his one remaining kidney is failing. He met a willing kidney donor on a Web site called www.MatchingDonors.com. The site connects people in need of an organ transplant with those willing to become live donors.

On the MatchingDonors.com Web site, Hickey said he lost a kidney to cancer in 1998 and his other kidney is shutting down. He undergoes four hours of hemodialysis every other day.

When Hickey and Rob Smitty, 32, from Chattanooga, Tenn., were being prepped for the transplant Monday, Hickey said doctor Dr. Igal Kam at Presbyterian/St. Luke's Hospital informed them the procedure would not be carried out.

Hickey said he is distraught over the doctor's decision to cancel the transplant procedure and that he would look consider suing the hospital if it doesn't allow the transplant to take place.

On Monday afternoon, P/SL's CEO issued a statement to clarify what happened.

"Like all hospitals, we rely on our physicians to make clinical decisions, and we support our physicians and surgeons," Said Mimi Roberson. "We therefore agreed to the postponement of the surgery until we could review questions about the website and this specific transplant case, to ensure it meets all the appropriate medical-ethics standards.

"We at P/SL would like to apologize for the disappointment that the patient and the donor may understandably feel, and we regret any inconvenience. We are hopeful that, as the matter is reviewed, both the patient's needs will be met and the physician's concerns will be resolved."

Smitty came to Denver for the operation after he saw Hickey's name listed on the donor Web site.

"I'm very family-oriented; I was hoping to find somebody who is also family-oriented," said Smitty, a father of two, shortly after meeting Hickey. Hickey and his wife, a nurse in Vail, have four grown sons.

MatchingDonors.com charges $295 for someone in need of a transplant to be listed. This would have been the first transplant to take place where a donor and recipient met through the MatchingDonors site. The owners of the Web site did not return telephone calls asking for comment.