Pig heart patient dies two months after transplant

Surgeons do not yet know if his body rejected the organ, which was modified genetically to fit a human

THE world’s first pig heart transplant patient has died two months after the groundbreaking surgery, but the University of Maryland Medical Centre said it was too early to say if 57-year-old David Bennett died as a result of his body rejecting the organ.

Mr Bennett had terminal heart disease when he received the transplant from a genetically modified pig but was ineligible for a human organ donation.

At the time he described the procedure as “do or die’’ and accepted it was a “shot in the dark”.

The operation was initially a success, as Mr Bennett’s body did not reject the genetically modified heart designed to be small enough for a human.

Dr Bartley Griffith, the surgeon who performed the procedure, received special permission from the US Food and Drug Administration on Dec 31 to try to save Mr Bennett’s life in this unconventional manner.

“We are devastated by the loss of Mr Bennett,” the doctor said in a statement yesterday. “He proved to be a brave and noble patient who fought all the way to the end. We extend our sincerest condolences to his family.

“Mr Bennett became known by millions of people around the world for his courage and steadfast will to live.”

The University of Maryland Medical Centre, where the operation was conducted on Jan 7 and who had been treating Mr Bennett since October, said the heart performed well for several weeks.

He remained in hospital for monitoring until his death and was able to regain strength via physical therapy and watched the Superbowl.

The hospital said he fell ill several days ago and rapidly deteriorated so was admitted into palliative care before dying on Tuesday.

Dr Luciano Potena, president of the European Society for Organ Transplantation, said: “I would say that [the operation] was successful in that we learned that it’s feasible. But there are a lot of issues that need to be tackled, medical issues because the patient died soon, but also an ethical framework.”

After Mr Bennett’s operation it emerged he had assaulted a man at a bar in 1988, leaving him paralysed. He was convicted of stabbing the man several times and served six years in prison while the victim, Edward Shumaker, was left in a wheelchair.

Mr Shumaker’s sister, Leslie Downey, told the Washington Post she wished the second chance at life that Mr Bennett received had instead gone to a “deserving recipient”.

The pioneering heart came from a genetically-modified pig grown by Revivicor, a spin-off company from PPL Therapeutics, which created Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal. The same company provided swine kidneys which were transplanted into a braindead patient in January, in another world first.

This patient, Jim Parsons, 57, from Alabama, was put forward for the procedure by his family to further medical knowledge, knowing Mr Parsons would still die after a fatal motorbike accident. David Bennett Jr, said in a statement: “We hope this story can be the beginning of hope and not the end.

“We also hope that what was learned from his surgery will benefit future patients and hopefully one day, end the organ shortage that costs so many lives each year.”