In 1993, Pennsylvania's then-Governor, Bob Casey, received a combined heart-liver transplant within 10 hours of going on the "waiting list." Here's part of the storm of controversy which that episode created, including a letter I'd written.
One month after this storm of outrage from the public, CORE changed their guidelines on multiple organ transplant waiting lists. Here's a snip from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette archives (I didn't want to pay for the whole article...sorry!)
Published on 07/17/1993, PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE
AGENCY CHANGES ITS POLICY ON ORGANS
The local organ procurement agency has announced that it has adopted a more stringent
policy on
combination heart-liver transplants and overturned its own policy that drew criticism when
it allowed
Gov. Casey to get his donor organs after a brief wait.
The Center for Organ Recovery and Education, the organ procurement agency for Western
Pennsylvania and parts of New York and West Virginia, announced yesterday that its board
of
directors voted Thursday to adopt the policy of the national Un...
For those who are really curious, here are some newspaper snips describing Governor Casey's operation...
Published on 06/15/1993, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
CASEY GETS NEW HEART, LIVER
ORGANS 'WORKING WELL' AFTER SURGERY
Gov. Casey underwent a heart-liver transplant yesterday in an extraordinary attempt to
save
his life.
Doctors at Presbyterian University Hospital here completed implants of the new heart and
liver in an
operation that took more than 13 hours. Casey was taken from the operating room at 8:45
p.m....
Also from the Philadelphia Inquirer...
Published on 06/15/1993, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
GOV. CASEY'S ORDEAL
A STUBBORN AND TENACIOUS POLITICAL LEADER FACES THE
ULTIMATE CHALLENGE
At this writing, Gov. Casey is on an operating table, willing his body to meet one more
test
and survive a procedure that is both rare and risky, a double organ transplant. But as he
endures
the grueling heart-liver operation, he and his family know they are not alone.
In their minds, millions of Pennsylvanians are sitting with Mrs. Casey and their eight
children at the
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, watching the clock compulsively, wandering
aimlessly
around the halls, sta...