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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forumspig heart recipient has criminal past. ethicist say that should have no bearing on worthiness
Doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center made big headlines this week with the first-ever transplant of a genetically modified pig heart into a human. But all that attention has brought to a light a troubling aspect of the patient's past: He once nearly killed a man by stabbing him seven times in a bar, reports the Washington Post. David Bennett Sr., 57, served about five years in prison for the 1988 stabbing of 22-year-old Edward Shumaker. The story explores the ethics surrounding the selection of organ recipients, as summed up by Shumaker's sister, Leslie Shumaker Downey: "I wish, in my opinion, it had gone to a deserving recipient.
Edward Shumaker survived the attack but was left paralyzed and died of stroke in 2005 at age 40. Bennett is "being given another shot at life, says Downey. But my brother Ed wasnt given a shot at life. Ed was given a death sentence. However, the Post notes that the general view of medical ethicists is that a person's criminal background should have no bearing on worthiness as a recipient. The key principle in medicine is to treat anyone who is sick, regardless of who they are, says Arthur Caplan, a bioethics professor at New York University.
The medical center in Baltimore where the procedure took place voiced a similar sentiment, though it is not saying whether it knew of Bennett's past. This patient came to us in dire need, and a decision was made about his transplant eligibility based solely on his medical records," it says in a statement.
https://www.newser.com/story/315626/troubling-history-emerges-about-historic-organ-recipient.html
LisaL
(44,972 posts)There is no shortage of pig hearts, if it works. The main issue is rejection. He was not eligible for a human heart transplant which is why he got the pig heart to begin with.
Disaffected
(4,547 posts)Yabut the transplanted pig heart was majorly genetically modified. Such hearts are not plentiful and, likely very costly to produce.
I wonder if they also have to be custom modified to conform to the genetic makeup of the recipient?
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,309 posts)Does anyone get what they really deserve? What happens if they do, or don't?
Jedi Guy
(3,175 posts)PTWB
(4,131 posts)We don't have any shortage of pig's hearts and his participation will, hopefully, help pave the way for the modernization of organ transplantation.
Do you remember the outrage over the teenager who initially was denied a human heart transplant based on his history of poor choices, but then after the story went viral, the hospital reversed their decision and gave the teen a heart? Two years later he died in a police pursuit after he had carjacked someone, broke into a home, shot a gun at an elderly woman, and struck a pedestrian with his vehicle. He was killed in the crash.
I have mixed feelings on the ethics of denying people organ transplants based on their criminal history, or history of poor choices in general, and I can see valid arguments for both sides of that debate.
Those ethical concerns fade away if we can manufacture a steady supply of organs that are transplantable into humans.
msongs
(67,366 posts)Mr.Bill
(24,253 posts)is people who say experimental surgeries should be done on convicts.
BlackSkimmer
(51,308 posts)alphafemale
(18,497 posts)And if he only was sentenced to 5 years it was probably a mutual fight.
People die of strokes at 40 without (edited from with) a prior injury being a cause.
Could have been lifestyle choices.
And remember Darth Cheney was rushed to the front of the line for a human heart.
flying rabbit
(4,628 posts)and replaced with a lump of coal? I can't remember...
JI7
(89,241 posts)can be seen as him being a test subject so him giving something to society.
luv2fly
(2,475 posts)Why do we think we get to use them in such a manner?