Health

Heart issues, not pig kidney, killed transplant patient, doctors say

Rick Slayman died in May, two months after he received a kidney transplant from a genetically engineered pig.

Rick Slayman in his hospital room at Massachusetts General Hospital before his discharge on Wednesday April 3, 2024. Slayman, 62, died in May, two months after receiving the transplant. Michelle Rose/Massachusetts General Hospital

By Morgan Rousseau

November 16, 2024

1 minute to read

A Weymouth man who received a kidney transplant from a genetically engineered pig died from an “unexpected cardiac event” unrelated to the organ, doctors announced this week.

Massachusetts General’s Transplant Center said there was no sign that Rick Slayman’s death was due to his body rejecting the organ transplant, according to a Boston Globe report.

Slayman, 62, died in May, two months after receiving the transplant. Since then, there has been no public disclosure of his cause of death. Immediately following Slayman’s passing, doctors said they had “no indication that it was the result of his recent transplant.”

Slayman had received the historic transplant on March 21 as a treatment for his end-stage kidney disease. Surgeons said they believed that the transplant would last for at least two years.

Doctors knew of Slayman’s heart condition before the procedure but still believed he was a good candidate for the surgery, according to the Globe.

Slayman was the first living person to have the procedure. His family said Slayman underwent the surgery to give hope to the more than 100,000 people who need an organ transplant to survive.

“Rick accomplished that goal and his hope and optimism will endure forever,” his family said in a statement.