Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Today
Jesica Santillan Suffering Serious Complications
Aired February 21, 2003 - 10:11 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to turn our attention to North Carolina and the effort to save the life of a very sick teenager.
Jesica Santillan underwent her second transplant surgery yesterday after a botched transplant two weeks ago. Now there is word she has suffered some serious complications.
Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is in Durham, North Carolina, with the latest on Jesica's condition -- Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, indeed, there has been a serious complication. Through a CAT scan, doctors saw that there is swelling and bleeding in her brain. The two surgeons say that this is life threatening, and they're being aggressive as they can in order to fix the problem.
Here's some pictures of Jesica taken last night. She is also on dialysis. She is also on a respirator. The dialysis, and the swelling in the brain and the bleeding in the brain can sometimes be complication of this kind of surgery, but it does not usually happen. This is unusual set of circumstances in a very unusual case.
I have here with me Matt Mahoney, who is a spokesperson for the family. He raised money to bring Jesica here from Mexico to get this surgery.
And, Mr. Mahoney, tell me, what do the doctors telling you about how she's doing right now?
MACK MAHONEY, FAMILY SPOKESMAN: Well, this could be brain swelling that could cause brain death. Just -- it may not even be that. It could be caused by swelling. But they believe it's caused by bleeding in the cranial area, and they believe that was caused because of the time that she had spent on the machines. Had she not spent that much time on these machines, this would not be a problem. If she could of went on and had her surgery, and even if she had to have another heart, if they would have just went ahead and fesesed up in time to do this in time, this would not be a problem.
COHEN: And you're referring the heart/lung machines that she was on during the first surgery, and then again, during the second surgery.
MAHONEY: Because of Duke stalling about admitting what they had done they've caused her to be on the heart/lung machine or the life support system for too long and this system, and this system causes breakdowns in the body. Other organs don't like it, including the brain, and this is one of the complications involved in that.
COHEN: The family's been through so much already. How are they holding up with this recent complication?
MAHONEY: Well, they're on a roller coaster ride. They're go up, and they go down, and they think -- you know, tell one day, hey, we've got a new heart and they were elated yesterday. But scared, you know, but a little nervous, but they felt a lot better. Now we're back down. The doctors said this morning, you know, she had this swelling of the brain and that this could mean a lot of different things, but that they would not conclusive on any one thing, and that they needed a CAT scan to make sure that it was bleeding in the brain, that they wasn't sure that's what it was, but they pretty well, you know, have dealt with enough of this and know.
COHEN: All right. Well, thank you, Mr. Mahoney. Thank you.
You heard Mr. Mahoney mention that he feels that Duke stalled, that they did the first operation, the organs with the wrong type; he feels that they stalled, and they waited too long to admit they made a mistake. Duke says they realized it early on, and did everything they could to correct it -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Elizabeth, no matter the outcome, there's certainly a lot of questions and some finger pointing to see exactly what went wrong for the treatment in this teenager.
Elizabeth Cohen, in Durham, North Carolina, thank you so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 21, 2003 - 10:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to turn our attention to North Carolina and the effort to save the life of a very sick teenager.
Jesica Santillan underwent her second transplant surgery yesterday after a botched transplant two weeks ago. Now there is word she has suffered some serious complications.
Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is in Durham, North Carolina, with the latest on Jesica's condition -- Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, indeed, there has been a serious complication. Through a CAT scan, doctors saw that there is swelling and bleeding in her brain. The two surgeons say that this is life threatening, and they're being aggressive as they can in order to fix the problem.
Here's some pictures of Jesica taken last night. She is also on dialysis. She is also on a respirator. The dialysis, and the swelling in the brain and the bleeding in the brain can sometimes be complication of this kind of surgery, but it does not usually happen. This is unusual set of circumstances in a very unusual case.
I have here with me Matt Mahoney, who is a spokesperson for the family. He raised money to bring Jesica here from Mexico to get this surgery.
And, Mr. Mahoney, tell me, what do the doctors telling you about how she's doing right now?
MACK MAHONEY, FAMILY SPOKESMAN: Well, this could be brain swelling that could cause brain death. Just -- it may not even be that. It could be caused by swelling. But they believe it's caused by bleeding in the cranial area, and they believe that was caused because of the time that she had spent on the machines. Had she not spent that much time on these machines, this would not be a problem. If she could of went on and had her surgery, and even if she had to have another heart, if they would have just went ahead and fesesed up in time to do this in time, this would not be a problem.
COHEN: And you're referring the heart/lung machines that she was on during the first surgery, and then again, during the second surgery.
MAHONEY: Because of Duke stalling about admitting what they had done they've caused her to be on the heart/lung machine or the life support system for too long and this system, and this system causes breakdowns in the body. Other organs don't like it, including the brain, and this is one of the complications involved in that.
COHEN: The family's been through so much already. How are they holding up with this recent complication?
MAHONEY: Well, they're on a roller coaster ride. They're go up, and they go down, and they think -- you know, tell one day, hey, we've got a new heart and they were elated yesterday. But scared, you know, but a little nervous, but they felt a lot better. Now we're back down. The doctors said this morning, you know, she had this swelling of the brain and that this could mean a lot of different things, but that they would not conclusive on any one thing, and that they needed a CAT scan to make sure that it was bleeding in the brain, that they wasn't sure that's what it was, but they pretty well, you know, have dealt with enough of this and know.
COHEN: All right. Well, thank you, Mr. Mahoney. Thank you.
You heard Mr. Mahoney mention that he feels that Duke stalled, that they did the first operation, the organs with the wrong type; he feels that they stalled, and they waited too long to admit they made a mistake. Duke says they realized it early on, and did everything they could to correct it -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Elizabeth, no matter the outcome, there's certainly a lot of questions and some finger pointing to see exactly what went wrong for the treatment in this teenager.
Elizabeth Cohen, in Durham, North Carolina, thank you so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
