Posted on 02/22/2003 4:01:20 PM PST by AlwaysLurking
Teen transplant patient dies after setbacks By EMERY P. DALESIO, The Associated Press
DURHAM -- Jesica Santillan, who survived a botched heart-lung transplant long enough to get a second set of donated organs, died this afternoon.
Jesica was declared brain dead at 1:25 p.m. and taken off life-support machines at about 5 p.m., said Richard Puff, Duke University Medical Center spokesman.
Earlier today, a lawyer for the 17-year-old's family said they would not agree to remove her from life support until they were allowed to get an outside doctor's opinion on her condition. Puff did not know if the hospital had the Santillans' consent to turn off the machines.
He said the family declined to donate any organs from Jesica's body, including the heart and lungs that she received in the second transplant. He did not know if those organs had been in any condition to use in a second transplant.
Jesica, 17, whose own heart was deformed, received a heart-lung transplant Feb. 7, but from a donor of a different blood type. Her body rejected the transplant and she was near death by the time the second set of organs was placed in her body early Thursday.
By early Friday, the newest organs were performing well but Jesica's brain was swelled and bleeding.
"All of us at Duke University Hospital are deeply saddened by this," Dr. William Fulkerson, the hospital's chief executive officer, said today. "We want Jesica's family and supporters to know that we share their loss and their grief. We very much regret these tragic circumstances."
A spokeswoman for a foundation created to help pay Jesica's medical bills prayed for the girl at a news conference.
"Dear heavenly father, we want to thank you for Jesica's life," Renee McCormick said. "In one week, she was able to touch more hearts in this world than most of us combined will ever do in a lifetime. ...
"We know that Jesica's work on this earth is done, and she is now an angel," McCormick said, and began to cry.
Family lawyer Kurt Dixon said Jesica's parents and supporters, who had remained with her through her hospitalization, would not be available for comment.
Jesica's heart condition 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.
She spent three years on a waiting list for a transplant while neighbors and friends in Louisburg, where her family moved to be near relatives, rallied to support her emotionally and financially.
In the first operation, Dr. James Jaggers implanted organs from a donor with type A blood, rather than Jesica's O-positive. Duke officials have said Jaggers and Carolina Donor Services, an organ procurement agency, failed to share information about her blood type.
A second set of organs was located less than two weeks later _ amazingly fast in comparison to the three years Jesica spent on a waiting list before her first operation. Eighty percent of patients awaiting transplants die before organs can be found.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © Copyright 2003, The News & Observer Publishing Company.
My sympathy to the girl's family.But once again the press dances around the fact that this girl and her family are criminal aliens.
I was playing pool with some friends last night and this story came on TV. My friends were all saying, "What a shame," etc. I said "Are you aware she and her family are illegal aliens?" Their demeanor changed pretty dramatically. One said, "I hope none of my tax dollars were used for this."
I can guarantee you that John "Is That A Waaah-bulance Ahead?" Edwards will argue that the family has every right to sue as long as the carrion eat...um..lawyer that convinces them that a 50-50 contingency is a good deal agrees to donate to his campaign.
Thus, when the first heart/lung donation was given to affirmative action Jessica, someone else didn't get them and is either still waiting or has died. The same is true with the second set.
I assume that some sort of visa would be available for a foreigner who wanted to come to the US for health care. Why wouldn't Duke have required that? The answer probably is, "Time was very short." And, that is true but it is also true for the two Americans who played by the administrative rules and got on a list and are still waiting or have died.
Why would Duke have run this criminal to the top of the line? Even though I'm certain the is federal taxpayer money involved here, I hope Duke and the medicos involved get their respective butts sued off. Maybe Mexico will help pay their liabilities.
That would be $20 per person per year. I wonder if they pay that amount in various sales taxes and unclaimed income taxes? Let me see, my casio says that they would have to spend $250 per year/per person at a tax rate of 8% to accrue that amount. Seems "unreasonable" to me, however, the question is really a question of respect for the law not economics.
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