The first patient transplanted with a pig kidney is discharged: "It is one of the happiest moments of my life". Richard Slayman, 62, was operated on by surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital on March 16 in an operation that lasted four hours.
The kidney Slayman received "produces urine, removes waste products from the blood, balances body fluids, and performs other key functions" Experiments with organ transplants from modified pigs had failed until before Slayman's intervention. Two patients received hearts, but died shortly afterwards.