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CNN Live At Daybreak
17-Year-Old Jesica Santillan Beginning First Full Day With New Organs
Aired February 21, 2003 - 05:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In North Carolina, 17-year-old Jesica Santillan is beginning the first full day with her new organs. The Mexican teenager is fighting to recover from yesterday's surgery, in which she received a second heart/lung transplant.
CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has the story for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the people who love Jesica Santillan, it was a day of hope and a day of anger. Hope because her new heart and lungs are working, although she's still in critical condition at Duke University Medical Center and, according to her family, on dialysis and a respirator. The odds are about 50-50 that she'll live through the next year.
And here's the anger, from Jesica's mother, via a translator.
MRS. SANTILLAN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): She thanks the media and the press, the newspapers, the radio shows, everybody, because if they wouldn't have gotten the word out, that she felt that the hospital would have let her baby die.
COHEN: Duke says they've done everything in their power to save Jesica's life.
DR. WILLIAM FULKERSON, CEO, DUKE UNIVERSITY: This has been a very difficult and a heart wrenching time for many people here at duke.
COHEN: Duke admits that two weeks ago they gave Jesica organs that were Type A when she's Type O. Duke says they figured out what went wrong. Doctors, after receiving notice from the organ bank of a match, assumed the blood types matched and never double checked.
FULKERSON: We have put in place additional procedures in order to prevent these kinds of errors from ever happening again in the future.
COHEN: Duke hasn't said whether they'll pay for the second procedure to correct the problem. Family friends say they'd better.
Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Durham, North Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO: And for more on this story, tune in tomorrow for our medical program, "CNN Weekend House Call." The topic will be transplant tragedy and medical mistakes. That airs Saturday, 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. You can e-mail your questions and comments to housecall@cnn.com.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
New Organs>
Aired February 21, 2003 - 05:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In North Carolina, 17-year-old Jesica Santillan is beginning the first full day with her new organs. The Mexican teenager is fighting to recover from yesterday's surgery, in which she received a second heart/lung transplant.
CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has the story for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the people who love Jesica Santillan, it was a day of hope and a day of anger. Hope because her new heart and lungs are working, although she's still in critical condition at Duke University Medical Center and, according to her family, on dialysis and a respirator. The odds are about 50-50 that she'll live through the next year.
And here's the anger, from Jesica's mother, via a translator.
MRS. SANTILLAN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): She thanks the media and the press, the newspapers, the radio shows, everybody, because if they wouldn't have gotten the word out, that she felt that the hospital would have let her baby die.
COHEN: Duke says they've done everything in their power to save Jesica's life.
DR. WILLIAM FULKERSON, CEO, DUKE UNIVERSITY: This has been a very difficult and a heart wrenching time for many people here at duke.
COHEN: Duke admits that two weeks ago they gave Jesica organs that were Type A when she's Type O. Duke says they figured out what went wrong. Doctors, after receiving notice from the organ bank of a match, assumed the blood types matched and never double checked.
FULKERSON: We have put in place additional procedures in order to prevent these kinds of errors from ever happening again in the future.
COHEN: Duke hasn't said whether they'll pay for the second procedure to correct the problem. Family friends say they'd better.
Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Durham, North Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO: And for more on this story, tune in tomorrow for our medical program, "CNN Weekend House Call." The topic will be transplant tragedy and medical mistakes. That airs Saturday, 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. You can e-mail your questions and comments to housecall@cnn.com.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
New Organs>
