David Bennett, who was previously diagnosed with a heart disease, received the world’s first pig heart transplant at the University of Maryland Hospital on January 7. At the time of surgery, a pig heart was used, which had genetic material removed that causes rejection by the human body.

At the time, there was no suitable heart donation for Bennett, and the medical staff decided to transplant the pig’s heart after much consideration. After the surgery, the heart functioned properly, blood pressure returned to normal, and he lived a normal life, but suddenly his condition worsened and he died on March 8.

Dr Bartley Griffith, who performed the transplant, said Bennett’s body had pig porcine cytomegalovirus 20 days after the transplant. Initially, the research team tested the pig’s heart for viruses, but it is estimated that only infectious viruses were tested and latent viruses could not be filtered out.

Bennett was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1988 for stabbing his high school friend Edward Shumaker nine times. Shumaker became disabled and died in 2007 after 19 years in a wheelchair.

Shumaker’s family filed a lawsuit against Bennett and he was sentenced to pay $3.4 million in compensation, but they did not receive a single penny. There are also opinions regarding “whether it is right to give a chance to a felon” and “medical personnel do not distinguish between sinners and holy humans.”

There is also a bioethics debate about “tooling animals.” PETA, an international animal protection organization, criticized the surgery as “unethical and resource-wasting,” saying, “An animal is not a tool warehouse for humans to take out what we need, but a complex and intelligent being.”

Organ donation is not automatic and even if there is a donor, it cannot be donated if it does not meet the conditions of the recipient. Animal heart transplants have been attempted several times, but there has been no cases without defects, and ethical problems have also occurred. Demand remains however, so a solution through global discussion is required.

L.L.F reporter Seo-yeong Lee