Patient Dies Weeks After Kidney Transplant From Genetically Modified Pig
The New York Times
Richard Slayman received the historic procedure in March. The hospital said it had “no indication” his death was related to the transplant.
Richard “Rick” Slayman, who made history at age 62 as the first person to receive a kidney from a genetically modified pig, has died about two months after the procedure.
Massachusetts General Hospital, where Mr. Slayman had the operation, said in a statement on Saturday that its transplant team was “deeply saddened” at his death. The hospital said it had “no indication that it was the result of his recent transplant.”
Mr. Slayman, who was Black, had end-stage kidney disease, a condition that affects more than 800,000 people in the United States, according to the federal government, with disproportionately higher rates among Black people.
There are far too few kidneys available for donation. Nearly 90,000 people are on the national waiting list for a kidney.
Mr. Slayman, a supervisor for the state transportation department from Weymouth, Mass., had received a human kidney in 2018. When it began to fail in 2023 and he developed congestive heart failure, his doctors suggested he try one from a modified pig.
“I saw it not only as a way to help me, but a way to provide hope for the thousands of people who need a transplant to survive,” he said in a hospital news release in March.
