A 13-year-old Maryland boy has received his third set of four donor organs within five weeks. The transplants are believed to mark the first time a patient in need of multiple organs has had three transplant surgeries.
Daniel Canal of Wheaton, Maryland, originally needed only a small intestine. However, his liver, pancreas, and stomach weakened during his five-year wait for a donor, necessitating the four-organ transplant. UPI reported that Daniel's second set of organs, which came from an adult in Pennsylvania, "were not particularly healthy when they were inserted." The third set--transplanted on June 20--came from a teenager who lived in Puerto Rico. Two days after the operation, the new organs were reported to be functioning well.
In related news, UPI reported that a Sudanese man who is a permanent legal resident of the United States was placed on a waiting list for a lung transplant following bureaucratic intervention by New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and New York Senator Alfonse D'Amato. The man previously had been denied placement on the list "because he is not a citizen" but was eligible under Medicaid for "a $1,300-a-day hospital bed until he dies," UPI said.
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