At the moment, medicine has made serious progress and many operations are carried out daily to save people, even with the most serious health abnormalities. However, this was not always the case and on the way to these achievements, doctors faced setbacks, which often caused a great public outcry. Thus, the case of Baby Faye, a newborn girl who had a baboon heart transplant, can be given as an example. This medical decision was not crowned, and the girl died shortly after and the procedure itself caused multiple accusations from scientists and the public.
The Baby Fairy case is one of the striking examples of what modern surgical practice is capable of and what prospects humanity faces in the treatment of multiple serious diseases. Research stated that Stephanie Fae Beauclair is “a baby girl who had been born prematurely only 12 days before with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a fatal defect” (Stafford, 2019, p. 1). The transplantation of a vital organ was performed by a group of surgeons under the supervision and participation of Leonard L. Bailey. During the research, it was determined that the blood groups of a newborn girl and a baboon were not combined since the animal had group O, the girl AB (Stafford, 2019). However, this did not cause concern among medical professionals, as they believed that this aspect would not be a problem during the procedure.
Initially, the operation to transplant an animal’s heart to a human was a success and attracted public attention. However, 21 days later, Fei died from a dishonest infection that occurred due to the formation of antibodies that caused an increased number of abnormal red blood cells. This was the reason for the failure of the organ and the fatal outcome of the operation. This case has become a concern of ethical and medical aspects and has also attracted the attention of animal welfare associations. It is worth noting that the mother of a newborn girl signed a specialized informed consent, which provided an opportunity for medical specialists to test a suitable baboon donor for her daughter. However, one of the arguments for the unethical actions of doctors was that the animal itself cannot consent to such a procedure. The Baby Face case was the only recorded case of a baboon heart transplant to a human and had a significant contribution to medical practice.
Reference
Stafford, N. (2019). Leonard L Bailey: in 1984 he transplanted a baboon heart into a human infant known as “Baby Fae”. BMJ, 366. Web.