PEDIATRICS Vol. 95 No. 4 April 1995, pp. A26
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ON WAITING LIST BEFORE BIRTH

J. F. L. MD

In May 1991, an ultrasound examination revealed that a 17-week fetus had a potentially fatal heart malformation. Thirteen weeks later, doctors at the University of Pittsburgh put the fetus on a list of patients awaiting human hearts for transplant.

At 35 weeks, when the fetus was mature enough to live outside the womb, the baby was delivered and became the world's youngest heart transplant patient. But the baby died when she was 3 1/2 months old...

Last year, there were just 71 heart transplants in babies in the United States, and 18 percent to 37.5 percent of babies die before a heart can be found. So, Dr. Frager said, in listing a fetus before it was even mature enough for a transplant, the doctors "wanted to give their patient a leg up."