Richard “Rick” Slayman, the first man to undergo transplant surgery with a genetically modified pig kidney, has died at the age of 62. As reported by the Guardian, Slayman had undergone surgery in Massachusetts General Hospital. Doctors currently say there is no indication that the cause of death was related to the transplant. Immediately after the surgery, surgeons assured that Slayman’s implanted kidney would last at least two years.
Complications before the transplant
Before Slayman’s surgery, pig kidneys had been transplanted into brain-dead patients for experimental purposes only. There have also been two cases of men who received heart transplants from pigs, but they also died a few months after the surgery. Slayman had already undergone a kidney transplant in 2018. However, the man had to return to dialysis in 2023. The therapy, however, gave rise to new complications, which forced the man to undergo frequent operations. Therefore the doctors recommended a pig kidney transplant. After Slayman, last April, a New Jersey woman, Lisa Pisano, received a genetically modified pig kidney and a mechanical pump to make her heart beat.
Because he had undergone surgery
Slayman’s family in a statement thanked the doctors because with “their enormous efforts in conducting the xenotransplant they gave our family another seven weeks with Rick, and our memories made during that time will remain in our minds and hearts.” . His family explained that the 62-year-old had wanted to undergo the operation also to give hope to the thousands of people waiting for a transplant to survive. «Rick has achieved this goal – explain his family – and his hope and optimism will last forever».
