Vanderbilt Television News Archive

(Studio: Dan Rather) Report introduced.

(Los Angeles, California: Terry Drinkwater) Successful heart transplant recipient Paul Holc shown with mother before release from Loma Linda Hospital, California. Transplant donation process reported under attack. Ontario, Canada, parents of encephalic baby donating heart discussed. [PARENTS - discuss traumatic aspects of situation for them and their love of child, Gabrielle.] Gabrielle's respirator being turned off, resulting in brain death, mentioned. Ethics of situation discussed. [Ethics professor Gerald WINSLOW - says it is still wrong to stop one life for the sake of another.] [Ethics professor Leslie ROTHENBERG - says the impulse of using encephalic infants as potential heart donors is ethically misguided.] [Transplant surgeon Dr. Leonard BAILEY - discusses encephalics and says they are no longer people.] Precedence of using encephalic babies mentioned. [Law and ethics professor Michael SHAPIRO - asks where one draws the line regarding who could be classified as a useless person.] [Gabrielle's PARENTS - say they feel full instead of empty.] [Paul's father Gordon HOLC - says his baby is alive and that is the proof of the rightness of the situation.] Baby Paul shown. Theologians' comments quoted.

(Studio: Dan Rather) Loma Linda Hospital, California, reported announcing another baby undergoing similar operation.