Lawrence Fawcett, the second person in the world to have a pig's heart transplanted into his chest, died Monday. His doctors announced his death on Tuesday, less than six weeks after the groundbreaking surgery on Sept. 20.
Fawcett, 58, a former U.S. Navy soldier and father of two, has been battling heart failure for a long time and was found unfit for a human heart transplant for medical reasons. According to the University of Maryland School of Medicine, at first the genetically modified pig heart appeared to function properly. However, in recent days, signs of rejection began to appear from Fawcett's body, which eventually led to his tragic death.
In a statement released by the hospital, Fawcett's wife, Anne, shared that her husband "knew his time was limited and this was his last chance to do for others. He never imagined he would survive for as long as he did." Dr. Bartley Griffith, the surgeon who led the transplants, added that Fawcett entered the procedure with the goal of being a guinea pig of sorts for the medical community to make the most of the trial.
This is the second attempt to transplant a pig's heart into a human, and both were performed at a hospital in Maryland. The first attempt took place last year on a patient named David Bennett, who survived two months before the transplanted heart failed. Posthumous tests found signs of a virus unique to pigs in the transplanted heart — though it's unclear if it was the virus that caused the failure.
Human animal organ transplants, known as Zeno transplants, are not a new idea, but for decades they have faced obstacles, because the human immune system usually rejects foreign tissues. However, scientists are constantly trying to overcome these obstacles. In the case of transplanted pig hearts, the pigs were genetically engineered to make their organs more suitable for humans.
Zeno transplants are a possible solution to address the severe shortage of human organ donations. Over 100,000 people are waiting for organ transplant operations in the US alone. Kidney transplant recipients make up much of this list, and many die while waiting for appropriate organ donations. As is well known, in Israel there is a "Gift of Life" association named after the late Rabbi Yeshayahu Haber, which encourages kidney donations from living people. Despite the automatic reluctance of Israelis as soon as pigs are mentioned, transplanting pig organs into humans does not contradict halacha, which prohibits only eating a pig, and not raising it for other purposes – from guarding (which in the past was intended to be implemented in the IDF) to organ donation.
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