Man given genetically modified pig heart dies
Written by Jessica Lal on March 15, 2022
David Bennett, who had terminal heart disease, survived for two months following the surgery in the US.
But his condition began to deteriorate several days ago, his doctors in Baltimore said, and the 57-year-old died on 8 March.
Mr Bennett knew the risks attached to the surgery, acknowledging before the procedure it was “a shot in the dark”.
Doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center were granted a special dispensation by the US medical regulator to carry out the procedure, on the basis that Mr Bennett – who was ineligible for a human transplant – would otherwise have died.
He had already been bedridden for six weeks leading up to the surgery, attached to a machine which was keeping him alive.
