Anencephalic Infants as Potential Organ Sources

Abstract

“Baby Gabrielle,” born October 12, 1987, with a fatal condition diagnosed prenatally as anencephaly, was brought to the Children’s Hospital in London, where she was placed on a respirator. Her parents had asked that she be connected to the machine so that her organs might be kept viable for donation to a critically ill infant in need. Baby Gabrielle was declared brain dead on October 14, 1987. Her body, still attached to the respirator, was flown to Loma Linda University Center in Loma Linda, California. On October 16, her heart was transplanted into a baby, Paul Holc, who had been delivered that day by caesarean section to receive the transplant. (See citations 47-52).