Biotechnology Scandals- Part 2.5

Baby Fae Case

Stephanie Fae Beauclair

In 1984, _____________, better known as Baby Fae was born with a rare and deadly heart defect

hypoplastic left heart syndrome

It is rare congenital heart defect in which the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped and incapable of supporting the systemic circulation.

Dr. Leonard Bailey

A surgeon named ________ came up with an audacious plan: he would attempt to

transplant a heart from a different species into Baby Fae

Xenotransplantation

involves the transplantation of nonhuman tissues or organs into human recipients.

1682

The first recorded cross species transplantation occurred in ____ when part of a dog’s bone was used in a Russian aristocrat’s injured skull.

Advantages

1. Unlimited Supply of Organs of Choice

2. Reduced Wait Times

3. Reduced Costs

4. Reduced Ilegal Organ Trafficking

Disadvantages

1. Risk of Rejection

2. Risk of Cross species Infection from Animals

3. Shorter Life Spans of Animal Organs

Loma Linda University Medical Center

The procedure, performed by Leonard Lee Bailey at ___________ was successful.

heart of a baboon

She became the first infant subject of a xenotransplant procedure and first successful infant heart transplant, receiving the_____________

21

But just a few days later, her body began to reject the new heart, and she went into cardiac arrest . Despite frantic efforts to save her, Baby Fae died just ___ days after the surgery.

The blood type incompatibility was seen as unavoidable

The rejection is thought to have been caused largely by a humoral response against the graft, due to Fae's type O blood creating antibodies against the type AB xenograft.

lack of infant human hearts

Prior to the procedure, no infant heart transplant even with human hearts had been successfully performed due to a ______________

Medical and Scientific Community

Many members of the medical community were intrigued by the surgery and its potential implications for future transplants, with some arguing that the risks outweighed the potential benefits of xenotransplantation

Mahal ko ba si tin?

shempre!

Public

Initially fascinated by the story and hopeful that the transplant would be successful. However, when news of Baby Fae's declining health was announced, there was a significant outpouring of grief and anger

Ethical Concerns

People questioning whether it was appropriate to use an animal in this way, and whether the risk to the patient was too high.

Animal Rights Activists

Animal rights activists were particularly vocal in their opposition to the surgery, arguing that using a baboon heart in a human was unethical and inhumane.

Ethically Justifiable

Some people argued that Baby Fae's condition was so dire that the potential benefits of the transplant outweighed the risks. (was done with the consent of Baby Fae's parents)

Inherently Unethical

They argued that animals have their own rights and that using them as sources of organs for human transplantation was a form of exploitation.

Issue on Decision

Making

Some argued that the medical team should have prioritized Baby Fae's best interests over the desire to try an experimental procedure.

Eddie Anguiano

In November 1985, one year after the death of Baby Fae, Bailey performed the first successful transplant of a human heart into a human infant, at the time known as Baby Moses but later identified as _________

376

Dr. Leonard Bailey (1942 2019) went on to transplant human hearts into _____ infants, earning a global reputation as a pioneer in infant heart transplantations and as a leading authority on congenital heart surgery.

pig to human heart transplantation

First __________ was performed where a genetically modified pig

heart was successfully transplanted into a 57 year old man in the end stage of heart disease.

Revivicor

The genetically modified pig heart underwent 10 genetic modifications, knocked down 3 immune rejection related genes, and inserted 6 human genes and 1 growth gene for inactivation to control the size of the heart, which was provided by ______

two months

But the patient's condition began deteriorating, and died on March 9, 2022, _____ months after the transplant surgery.