Posted on 02/23/2003 2:11:41 AM PST by kattracks
DURHAM, N.C. - The teenager who was put through a second heart-lung transplant after the first was botched died yesterday.Jesica Santillan, 17, was declared brain dead at 1:25 p.m. and taken off life-support machines about 5 p.m., said Duke University Medical Center spokesman Richard Puff.
She was kept on life support through the afternoon so family and friends could say goodbye, the hospital said in a statement.
Medicine to keep her heart going was discontinued at 5 p.m. Her heart stopped seven minutes later and a ventilator then was turned off.
Renee McCormick, a spokeswoman for a charity created to pay Jesica's medical bills, said the Santillan family didn't know until then that doctors were taking her off life support.
"They were hysterical," McCormick said. "The family's been treated so poorly. They're very hurt. These are human beings."
A family lawyer said hours earlier they didn't want to remove Jesica from life support until an outside doctor verified she was brain dead. The lawyer could not be reached last night.
The Santillan family declined to donate any organs from Jesica's body, Puff said. Although the newest organs transplanted into Jesica were performing well, her brain began swelling and bleeding shortly after the second transplant, doctors said.
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 blood type. By the time a match was found and new organs were transplanted early Thursday, she was in critical condition.
No double-check
Duke Hospital has acknowledged its fault in the original transplant, in which Dr. James Jaggers implanted organs from a donor with A blood that were incompatible with Jesica's O-positive blood.
Hospital CEO 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 procedures.
In his first public remarks, Jaggers said yesterday he had hoped Jesica would be "one of those lucky few" awaiting heart-lung procedures who actually get the transplants and do well.
"Unfortunately, in this case, human errors were made during the process" to match the organs with the patient, he said in a statement released by Duke.
Duke officials explained the error in a letter to the United Network for Organ Sharing, which matches patients with donated organs. The letter was signed by Fulkerson and Dr. Duane Davis, director of Duke's lung transplant program. They said Jaggers declined the organs for one patient but asked a donor group whether they were available for Jesica. The organs were offered to Davis, who declined because they were the wrong size for his patient, then offered to Jaggers for Jesica.
Relatives have said Jesica's family paid a smuggler to bring them from their small town near Guadalajara, Mexico, to the U.S. so she could get medical care.
Had this family been able to rely upon their own government, their own medical community to aide their child, they would not have come here. But the same can be said for all those who come here illegally for financial reasons. That is the bigger problem.
Had this child been an American, the blame would soley lie upon the Hospital/Surgeon because, in fact, had procedures/protocol been properly followed, negligence leading to death would not have happened. There would have been the "normal" risk of death due to an operation performed under the most perfect conditions. This, however, was far from the "normal risk" expected--and that is the problem in the instant case.
From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs?
My organs will only go to those who support the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights, or those who aren't old enough to make that decision yet. They will not go to the "domestic enemies of the Constitution".
Since I'm unable to specify this under what passes as our current system of "organ donor laws", my organs will simply become worm food once I die.
Congratulations! You are now a contestant in the low-life post of the year competition. You are currently the leader.
Last time I checked donating organs was voluntary... and gasp mine. You are not suggesting that the US government has dibs on them do you?
I believe in helping the most deserving. To me organ donation is not a political process, it is a moral one. I believe in donating not to be a good American, I donate to help preserve human life. Nationality may be your motivation for donating... so be it. I cannot read one's hearts or minds, I cannot designate where my organs can go towards, I can only hope that the person they go to is truly the most deserving.
I think in some states, you may be automatically "signed-up" when you get your driver's license unless you specify otherwise.
The statists would love to make it "madatory", but that agenda is a low-priority item for them.
I cannot designate where my organs can go towards, I can only hope that the person they go to is truly the most deserving.
Nor can I, which is why I'd sooner have them go to nobody rather than a gun-grabber or abortionist. I'd consider idea of having them auctioned off to a fence-sitter, but only for a very hefty sum paid to whomever I designate.
President V. Fox, step up to the plate, your people need you.
This was very well said.
People who think otherwise don't know what they are talking about.
I can only hope hospitals/doctors will think twice before taking another illegal into their care for the reasons you cited; however, that hospital/surgeon would probably also be looking at lawsuits from the ACLU or NAACP, etc., for NOT performing the operation......look at what has happened with that lesbian insemination case. The doctor is being attacked because she will not perform a particular procedure with the lesbian because it is against the doctor's religious beliefs. Now, can you imagine the maelstrom when/if a hospital/doctor refuses treatment? It's all about politics, and hospitals/doctors bow to the pressure, too often.
The onus should, insted, be upon the leaders we elected to write laws clamping down on illegals, empowering the INS, Border Patrol, law enforcement, et al., to go after illegals and they should also be given the manpower/tools/charge to their job; the borders should be closed.
Are you of the pro let the little illegal alien B@@@H die group or are you human.
My first post was dripping with sarcasm in case you didn't notice.
Okay. I may have misunderstood you.
I just feel bad about what happened to her, regardless of where she came from. That's all.
So do I and I am sickened by some "freepers" who begrudge her a properly done operation on other threads. It is disturbing to me. I was jsut repeating the sentiments of some "freepers" were espousing. One of them claims to have been a seminary student at one time. I am glad he didn't make it.
Thanks
Nov3
Since I'm unable to specify this under what passes as our current system of "organ donor laws", my organs will simply become worm food once I die.
Check out the following organization, with whom I am a member. There is no guarantee that your organs would go to the kind of people Mulder is talking about, but it does make it more likely:
Also sad are the families whose children were denied the organs. Most organ transplants involve one organ. Very few involve multiple organs. Six people on the waiting list got bumped and lost their chance for a life giving organ. It's a very sad story.
I have a very hard time giving ANY sympathy for these people.
1) Illegal Aliens, which means that 2 American citizens died for this girl (2 sets of organs from American donors)
2) They're freeloading off others and now look to be suing the hospital or all its worth.
3) They wouldn't allow organ harvesting of their daughter after the operation failed.
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