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Transplant Victim Loses Brain Function
Associated Press/Yahoo ^ | 2-22-03 | EMERY P. DALESIO

Posted on 02/22/2003 9:57:57 AM PST by Houmatt

The teenage girl who was put through two heart-lung transplants because the first set of organs were the wrong blood type had lost all brain activity Saturday, and blood was no longer flowing to her brain, a hospital spokesman said.

The hospital had not yet declared Jesica Santillan brain dead, but her family was meeting with doctors to discuss the next step.

Duke University Medical Center spokesman Richard Puff said Saturday that tests had found blood was no longer flowing to the 17-year-old's brain and they registered no brain activity. He has said the time frame to declare brain death can take up to 24 hours after brain activity ends.

Though the newest organs transplanted into her small body were performing well, Jesica's brain began swelling and bleeding shortly after the second transplant, doctors at Duke University Medical Center said.

"The swelling in her brain is severe, severe to the point we fear it's irreversible," Dr. Karen Frush, the hospital's medical director of children's services, said Friday.

Jesica had been in a coma since the first transplant Feb. 7. Her health deteriorated as her body rejected the donor organs, which didn't match her O-possitive blood. By the time a match was found and new organs transplanted early Thursday, she was in critical condition.

Frush said there was no sure way to tell when the brain damage occurred. But Mack Mahoney, a family friend and Jesica's chief benefactor, said doctors told the family it was due to the time Jesica was connected to life support.

"Life support ruins kidneys, it ruins brains, it ruins all the organs of the body," he said.

Jesica's mother, Magdalena Santillan, said at a news conference Friday night that she believed hospital officials were not telling her the full story. She said then that she wasn't ready to remove her daughter from life support.

Jesica had a heart deformity that kept her lungs from getting oxygen into her blood. 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.

In the first operation, Dr. James Jaggers implanted organs from a donor with type A blood that were incompatible with Jesica's O-positive blood.

Hospital chief executive Dr. William Fulkerson said Jaggers wrongly assumed compatibility had been confirmed when he was offered the organs, and later failed to double-check that assumption, a violation of the hospital's procedures.

Duke officials explained the error in a letter sent Friday to the United Network for Organ Sharing, which matches patients with donated organs.

The letter was signed by Fulkerson and Dr. Duane Davis, surgical director of Duke's lung transplant program. They said Jaggers declined the organs for one patient who was not ready for transplant and asked Carolina Donor Services, an organ procurement organization, whether they were available for Jesica.

CDS officials checked the data and called back, offering the organs to Davis, who declined because they were the wrong size for his patient. The organs were then offered to Jaggers for Jesica, the letter said.

Mahoney, a building contractor who started a charity in Jesica's name, complained that image-conscious doctors hesitated to take the blame for the bungled operation and lost precious time in the hunt for new organs.

"If she dies, they murdered her," he said.

Fulkerson pointed out that the second set of organs was found "in days" — under two weeks, compared to the three years Jesica had spent on a waiting list before the first operation.

"I think we have been honest and forthcoming with Jesica's family about her medical care every step of the way and we have accepted the responsibility publicly," he said.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: botchedtransplant; braindead; duke; illegalaliens; jesica; malpractice
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My most sincere condolences to the friends and family of this girl.

But if the transplanted organs are salvageable, perhaps they could be removed so someone else could get that second chance?

1 posted on 02/22/2003 9:57:57 AM PST by Houmatt
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To: Houmatt
But if the transplanted organs are salvageable, perhaps they could be removed so someone else could get that second chance?

That would be nice, but I think the shock of being transplanted twice would kill the organs.

2 posted on 02/22/2003 10:00:42 AM PST by LibKill ("Eat a live toad before breakfast and nothing worse than that can happen to you all day.")
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To: Houmatt
No. Once the organs are transplanted, they can't be used again.

My prayers are with this poor girl and her family.

3 posted on 02/22/2003 10:01:23 AM PST by Catspaw
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To: Houmatt
May God rest her soul, and grant comfort to her loved ones.
4 posted on 02/22/2003 10:04:57 AM PST by mhking ("The word is no. I am therefore going anyway..." --Admiral J.T. Kirk)
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To: Houmatt
My sympathy to this girl and her family. Interesting that the article dances around the fact this girl and her her family are criminal aliens. I sincerely hope not one dollar of public tax money is spent on this debacle.
5 posted on 02/22/2003 10:06:43 AM PST by upchuck (Sadamn: You are on the way to destruction...you have no chance to survive, make your time..ha ha ha)
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To: upchuck
I sincerely hope not one dollar of public tax money is spent on this debacle.

I wouldn't bet on that.

6 posted on 02/22/2003 10:07:59 AM PST by LibKill ("Eat a live toad before breakfast and nothing worse than that can happen to you all day.")
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To: Houmatt
For additional discussion,yesterday's version of the story here with almost 500 comments:
Jesica Santillan is brain dead.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/849031/posts
AP story at post 38
7 posted on 02/22/2003 10:10:52 AM PST by PAR35
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To: Houmatt
Condolences also to the people who were bumped from the organ waiting list.
8 posted on 02/22/2003 10:12:17 AM PST by ladyjane
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To: upchuck
I sincerely hope not one dollar of public tax money is spent on this debacle.

Trying to find some good in a very sad situation, at least she is now an ellegible Democrat - illegal, lost all brain function, and will soon be able to vote. Were it not for Democrat policies we would not be dealing with this unfortunate situation.

9 posted on 02/22/2003 10:14:20 AM PST by Mind-numbed Robot
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To: LibKill
I would bet. Duke Hospital is not taxpayer supported. Any fees associated with this tragedy will be picked up by the insurance carriers. The taxpayers, nor the family, will a cent. The lawyers for the family will see to that.
10 posted on 02/22/2003 10:14:32 AM PST by TommyDale
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To: Mind-numbed Robot
You might want to read up on the history of the girl. Yes, years ago, her family brought her here illegally. However, since that time, Senator Jesse Helms, North Carolina's premier Republican, stepped in on the family's behalf to get them amnesty. Don't give the Democrats credit for something a humane Republican did. Hats off to Jesse Helms for being a man, when society is lacking them.
11 posted on 02/22/2003 10:18:54 AM PST by TommyDale
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To: TommyDale
Oops. Should have read "will NOT pay a cent".
12 posted on 02/22/2003 10:19:46 AM PST by TommyDale
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To: LibKill; upchuck
I sincerely hope not one dollar of public tax money is spent on this debacle.

I wouldn't bet on that.

An earlier thread when the story came out indicated it was alll done with charity money...

13 posted on 02/22/2003 10:51:18 AM PST by IncPen
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To: Mind-numbed Robot
Trying to find some good in a very sad situation, at least she is now an ellegible Democrat - illegal, lost all brain function, and will soon be able to vote. Were it not for Democrat policies we would not be dealing with this unfortunate situation.

You win today's award for low-life posts. You get a few extra points for not being able to spell.

14 posted on 02/22/2003 11:13:18 AM PST by The Other Harry
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To: upchuck
Interesting that the article dances around the fact this girl and her her family are criminal aliens.

Did European immigrants and their descendants get visas or permission from the original inhabitants before colonizing and occupying America? Of course not. Alliances with the immigrants were based on this: "If you can't beat them, join them." Branding people as criminal or evil who wish to live here sounds pretty hollow.

God really ISN'T on our side, when it comes to strictly enforcing immigration laws.

15 posted on 02/22/2003 11:56:33 AM PST by Tax Government
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To: TommyDale
The newest reports are that the family has been told Jesica is brain-dead, but they have not removed her from life support.

Our family is a transplant family--my brother-in-law is a heart transplant patient. We were told prior to him getting on the list what the risks were; when he was on the list, we were told what were the risks; when he got his new heart, we were told again what the risks were. Fortunately, he made it through, but it wasn't easy for our family. The fear of rejection is always there, although it's eased somewhat in the past couple years.

The one thing we've all done is sign our donor cards to make sure someone who needs a transplant will get one.

16 posted on 02/22/2003 12:57:23 PM PST by Catspaw
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To: Tax Government
Yes, European immigrants need permission. Or, are you referring to the European colonists who came here to found a nation? I don't believe the native Americans had immigration laws.
17 posted on 02/22/2003 1:10:14 PM PST by monkeywrench
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To: Catspaw
I too am a heart transplant recipient. I tried to relay this same message on the previous thread, but I may have let my anger at the post I replied to get in the way. The miscues in this transplant business is are very few. The Drs I am treated by are some of the most caring in the world. They make about the same amount of money as a good plumber,because of working at a teaching hospital.
18 posted on 02/22/2003 1:13:38 PM PST by cksharks
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To: Houmatt
It seems it was just her time to pass on.

As that old saying goes: "Anyone may take life from a man, but no one death. A thousand gates stand open to it."

19 posted on 02/22/2003 1:21:24 PM PST by yankeedame ("Oh, I can take it, but I'd much rather dish it out.")
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To: cksharks
The miscues in this transplant business is are very few. The Drs I am treated by are some of the most caring in the world. They make about the same amount of money as a good plumber,because of working at a teaching hospital.

It's the same case with my brother-in-law. His doctors and the staff at the hospital were wonderful and continue to be. There are very few mistakes in transplants, and this one was elemental. Whether she would've survived the first transplant even with the correctly typed organs was still very risky. It isn't a tonsilectomy. But I also sympathize with her family--it was something we faced, and I wouldn't wish it on any family. I'm just very glad my brother-in-law survived and he's still with us. Our family is eternally grateful to the donor family for their sacrifice so that he could live.

And I'll relay what you've said to him--you're in the same club, you know.

20 posted on 02/22/2003 1:39:40 PM PST by Catspaw
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