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The 57-year-old, who had a pig’s heart implanted as a replacement organ for the first time in the world, spent ten years in prison. The victim’s relatives are shocked that this man in particular is being given a second chance.
Bennett is the first person in the world to have a pig heart transplanted.
via REUTERS
Victim’s relatives are shocked: “I wish the heart had gone to a recipient.”
via REUTERS
It has been revealed that the man who received a pig’s heart is a convicted criminal. He attacked a man with a knife.
The victim’s family believes someone else deserves the transplant.
However, medicine does not take into account any possible criminal past of the patient.
The man considered a medical marvel for being the first person in the world to receive a pig’s heart as a replacement organ is a convicted felon. According to research by the Washington Post, David Bennett was jailed for ten years for stabbing a man seven times and thus tying him to a wheelchair. Relatives of the victim who has since died recognized the name of the man who was in the media about the operation of the century.
Seven stitches in the back, abdomen and chest
Bennett attacked then-22-year-old Edward Shumaker while playing pool at a Maryland bar in April 1988 after seeing his then-wife sit on Shumaker’s lap, the Daily Mail reports. Shumaker suffered a total of seven stab wounds in his back, abdomen and chest. He remained paralyzed for 19 years. Bennett, who was 23 at the time of the attack, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for assault and carrying a concealed weapon, but he did not serve the full sentence.
The victim’s family felt Bennett did not deserve the innovative medical treatment and wished the pig’s heart had been transplanted to someone else in need. “Ed suffered,” Schumaker’s sister told the Washington Post. Her family would have faced devastation and trauma for years while Bennett was able to just move on and have a good life. “Now he’s been given a second chance with a new heart – but I wish it had gone to a recipient who deserved it.”
“Withholding medical services is not part of the penal system”
Medical ethicists say the criminal justice system already provides for jail time, punitive damages and other penalties for people convicted of violent crimes. The withholding of medical services is not part of this punishment. This separation between the legal system and the medical system is for good reason, says Scott Halpern, a professor of medical ethics at the University of Pennsylvania.
Meanwhile, the University of Maryland Medical Center declined to comment directly on whether it knew of Bennett’s criminal past. However, a spokesman emphasized that Bennet had come to the facility “in great need” and that doctors made the decision about his transplantability “solely on the basis of his medical records”.
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