SAD CASE

First Person to Receive Pig Kidney Transplant Dies Months Later

A Massachusetts man accepted the pig kidney after years of medical complications.

The first person to receive a genetically modified pig kidney transplant died two months after his procedure, according to the Associated Press. Richard “Rick” Slayman, 62, received the transplant in Massachusetts in March after a failed kidney transplant in 2018 prompted multiple procedures. He undertook the transplant in part to provide hope to the thousands awaiting a transplant, according to his family. “Rick accomplished that goal and his hope and optimism will endure forever,” his family said in a statement. The family also thanked Slayman’s doctors for their efforts. “Their enormous efforts leading the xenotransplant gave our family seven more weeks with Rick, and our memories made during that time will remain in our minds and hearts,” the statement said. Slayman’s doctors had no indication his death was due to the transplant, according to the AP. Doctors have long tried animal organ transplants to expedite the transplant process, which can leave patients in limbo for years. Still, the procedures have often failed due to the human body’s immune response to foreign tissue. Two men received pig heart transplants in recent years, though they both died weeks after the surgery.