He once stabbed a man seven times. Now he's a pig heart transplant pioneer.

David Bennett Sr., who received a heart implant from a genetically modified pig, with his University of Maryland Medical Center surgeon Bartley Griffith. Leslie Shumaker Downey was at home babysitting her two grandchildren Monday when a message pinged on her cellphone.

More than 106,000 Americans are on the national waiting list for an organ transplant, and 17 people die each day never receiving the organ they need. In the face of such a shortage, it can seem unconscionable to some families that those convicted of violent crimes would be given a life-saving procedure so many desperately need.

Medical ethicists argue that the criminal justice system already imposes jail time, financial restitution or other punishments on those convicted of violent offenses. Withholding medical services is not a part of that punishment. In a written statement, officials said the Baltimore hospital provides "lifesaving care to every patient who comes through their doors based on their medical needs, not their background or life circumstances."

His son, David Bennett Jr., who works as a physical therapist in North Carolina, also said several hospitals had declined to accept his father onto the waiting list because he had failed in the past to follow doctors' orders and attend follow-up visits. He also didn't take his medication consistently.

"I said, 'We can't give you a human heart; you don't qualify. But maybe we can use one from an animal, a pig," Griffith recounted. "It's never been done before, but we think we can do it.'"On New Year's Eve, federal officials granted an emergency authorization for the experimental procedure.By then, he had already spent weeks bedridden in the hospital.Nearly 34 years ago, on April 30, 1988, Bennett walked into the Double T Lounge in Hagerstown, Md.

A jury ultimately acquitted Bennett of intent to murder but found him guilty of battery and carrying a concealed weapon. Downey said her parents never received a dime from the lawsuit. Her father was a forklift operator; her mother worked in the fraud department of a bank. They took out loans to purchase a handicapped-accessible van and other equipment for their son.

Now, as Downey read about the man being lauded for his bravery, she thought about the untold pain he'd brought to her life. In one photo taken after the surgery, Bennett is seen in a hospital bed with medical tubing taped to his nose, his white hair ruffled. His doctor - wearing an aquamarine-colored mask, eyes crinkled at the corners - stands at his side."My dad has never ever in his entire life talked to me about that," he said. "I will not say anything about it.

So these doctors think this was ok, but are they some of the ones claiming they won’t treat people without a Covid shot?

White privilege

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