‘Baby Fae’ back on respirator

Press, 15 November 1984, Page 6

‘Baby Fae’ back on respirator

NZPA-AP Loma Linda, California Doctors had returned “Baby Fae” to a respirator, resumed feeding her intravenously, and administered a second drug to combat her body’s rejection of a transplanted baboon heart, said hospital officials. The child was active and alert, they said.

“The rejection episode got better and then it worsened again on Monday morning, and that’s when they started

her in on the lymphocyte immune globulin. Now she’s responding to the new drug”, said a Loma Linda University Medical Centre spokeswoman, Ms Patti Gentry. “They’re putting her on the respirator as a protective measure. It takes more energy to breathe on your own, and they’re trying to save her that energy”, Ms Gentry said. Doctors had also discontinued the formula, being given “Baby Fae” and

resumed intravenous feedings in an effort to save her strength; she said. The infant, the surviving human recipient of a heart from another species, remained in serious but stable condition, she said. The child’s identity has been kept secret at her parents’ request. However, the National Broadcasting Company reported yesterday that it knew the identity of the parents and details of their background.

N.B.C. said ,the child’s first name was Stephanie and Fae was her middle name. The network said the parents, who were not married and were separated when the girl was born, had moved to California from the Mid-west two years ago.

Both parents had been trouble with the law in the state they moved from — the father for disorderly conduct, the mother for passing bad cheques, N.B.C. reported.