Transplant Victim Dies

[YellowJacket]

TweetI dont know if anyone but myself has been following this, but Duke Medical Center transplanted the wrong set of organs into a girls body (wrong blood type), a second operation to fix the mistake cost a 17 year old girl her life



Hospital: 'We very much regret these tragic circumstances'
Saturday, February 22, 2003 Posted: 6:41 PM EST (2341 GMT)


Family spokesman Mack Mahoney visits Jesica Santillan, 17, in the hospital after her second transplant operation.


DURHAM, North Carolina (CNN) -- Doctors at Duke University Hospital declared Jesica Santillan dead at 1:25 p.m. Saturday and removed her from a respirator soon after. The 17 year-old girl had two heart and lung transplants this month, the first of which used organs with the wrong blood type.

"As of approximately 5 p.m., she is no longer on a respirator," a hospital spokeswoman told CNN. Santillan was declared dead by doctors after a series of tests determined she had no brain function, the hospital said in a statement.

"All of us at Duke University Hospital are deeply saddened by this," said Dr. William Fulkerson, chief executive of the hospital. "We want Jesica's family and supporters to know that we share their loss and their grief. We very much regret these tragic circumstances."

Santillan had been clinging to life since shortly after her first transplant February 7, when she was given organs from a donor with an incompatible blood type -- type A, which did not match her O-positive blood -- causing her weakened body to reject them. The hospital has acknowledged that her surgeon, Dr. James Jaggers, erred in not checking the blood type before performing the first transplant, according to The Associated Press.

Another heart and lungs became available, and Santillan underwent her second transplant Thursday.

On Friday, the hospital said the Mexican teen's new heart and lungs were "working well" but that the results of a CAT scan performed at 3 a.m. EST revealed she has experienced "significant swelling and bleeding in her brain, which is life-threatening." Doctors inserted a tube in an attempt to relieve the swelling and repeated tests Saturday morning.

The critically ill teen had been at the center of a dispute pitting Mack Mahoney, Santillan's self-proclaimed godfather, against Duke University Medical Center.

Doctors believe the brain injury was caused by time she spent on heart-lung machines, Mahoney said.

Mahoney maintains that after the unsuccessful transplant, he was forced to battle the hospital's administration because it didn't want unflattering publicity about the error.

He claims the hospital was more concerned about protecting its reputation than trying to find suitable donor organs from a compatible blood group.

The delay damaged Santillan's brain and might have cost her her life, he charged. The administration needed to say it made a mistake "and not let a child lay on life support 10 or 14 days knowing that it's ruining her brain, it's ruining the other organs," he said.

The hospital denies the allegation, saying it did everything possible to correct the error and give Santillan the best possible care.

Doctors had said the second surgery would give the teen a 50 percent chance of survival. Without it, she would die, doctors had said.

Two and half years ago, Mahoney set up a foundation in the girl's behalf after reading a newspaper article about how she needed a transplant because of a heart deformity that kept her lungs from getting oxygen into her blood. He has acted as the family's spokesman because Santillan's parents speak only Spanish.

[morebeefplease]

Tweeti heard about this. very sad.

[Lothar]

TweetThat's a pretty big mistake, somebody is gona get crucified for this one.

[bigjim33]

Tweetif you gonna be the ones with the big responsiblilities of surgery, fucking know what your going to be doing and double check. it is a very sad thing

[Auriflex]

TweetI agree that it was a tragic awful mistake, but I also have some problems with this scenario.

"Relatives have said her family paid a smuggler to bring them from their small town near Guadalajara, Mexico, to the United States so she could get medical care."

Pardon? You mean to tell me there is an overabundance of donated organs in the United States that we slide illegal aliens right into the lineup?

I am sad for her family, and even though a transplant was her only hope, it was still something to cling to.

[Auriflex]

TweetAnd really, why should anyone be surprised when we all see reports of tools being left in patients after operations, and limbs wrongly amputated.

Just try and stay out of the hospital.

[YellowJacket]

Tweet

Originally posted by Auriflex


Pardon? You mean to tell me there is an overabundance of donated organs in the United States that we slide illegal aliens right into the lineup?

I dont think her position in this country is on trial, fuck it, shes an illegel alien, doesnt justify a bunch of assholes murdering her.

[Auriflex]

Tweet

Originally posted by YellowJacket
I dont think her position in this country is on trial, fuck it, shes an illegel alien, doesnt justify a bunch of assholes murdering her.

Who said anything about justifying what happened? They absolutely fucked up.

[Auriflex]

TweetSomething else I found - I actually expected these numbers to be much higher. From UNOS -

53,693 Patients waiting for a kidney transplant.
17,188 Patients waiting for a liver transplant.
1,361 Patients waiting for a pancreas transplant.
330 Patients waiting for a pancreas islet cell.
2,483 Patients waiting a kidney-pancreas transplant.
193 Patients waiting for a intestine transplant.
3,908 Patients waiting for a heart transplant.
199 Patients waiting for a heart-lung transplant.
3,824 Patients waiting for a lung transplant.

[YellowJacket]

TweetNot getting the point, other than thats a sad set of statistics.

[Auriflex]

Tweet

Originally posted by YellowJacket
Not getting the point, other than thats a sad set of statistics.

Other than posting the statistics, which I was interested in, there wasn't a point to be made.

[jack hust]

Tweetit is a very sad thing in deed

[rado]

Tweet

Originally posted by THE BOUNCER
yes very sad, it's such ashame when these kinds of mistakes are made.

I agree, that really sucks. Especially when you give your life to these DR's on the operating table.

[3Vandoo]

Tweet

[house1]

Tweetwhats sad is now there were two sets of organs plus a life wasted.

two other people died there organs were donated to save lives but because someone did not take the time to make sure the blood matched now you have 3 wasted lives

fucking shame