Jesica was a 17-year-old Mexican girl with congenital restrictive cardiomyopathy. Her parents moved to Durham, North Carolina, home of Duke University Medical Center, one of America’s best to have her treated…… caringlawyers.com, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, 13 Disturbing Cases of Medical Malpractice, When Jesica Died , Photo Courtesy: indyweek.com, 2020
On 7 February surgeon James Jaggers had almost completed the operation when he learnt that the organs came from a donor with type A blood, incompatible with Jesica’s type O. The story became front page news. Jesica was kept on life support systems while a second transplant was sought—and, astonishingly, found. Despite the second transplant, Jesica died from irreversible brain damage on 22 February.
Jesica’s story was covered extensively in the national news and was followed by a Texas lawsuit. A 17 month old girl died after receiving a partial liver transplant from her father, who was incompatible, instead of from her mother, who was compatible. Apparently a laboratory mixed up the results of blood typing on the girl’s parents.