Man Who Received Genetically Modified Pig Heart In U.S. Dies

The first person in the world to get a heart transplant from a genetically-modified pig has died, BBC reported.

Photo Insert: In the weeks post-surgery, Bennett spent time with his family, watched the Super Bowl, and spoke about wanting to get home to his dog, Lucky.

David Bennett, who had terminal heart disease, survived two months following the surgery in the US. However, his condition began to deteriorate several days ago, his doctors in Baltimore said, and the 57-year-old died on Mar. 8.

Bennett knew the risks attached to the surgery, acknowledging before the procedure that it was "a shot in the dark."

Doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center were granted a special dispensation by the US medical regulator to carry out the procedure, on the basis that Bennett - who was ineligible for a human transplant - would otherwise have died.

He had already been bedridden for six weeks leading up to the surgery, attached to a machine that was keeping him alive. Bennett underwent the surgery on Jan. 7, and doctors say in the weeks afterward he spent time with his family, watched the Super Bowl, and spoke about wanting to get home to his dog, Lucky.

But his condition deteriorated, leaving doctors devastated. "He proved to be a brave and noble patient who fought all the way to the end," surgeon Bartley Griffith, who performed the transplant, said in a statement released by the hospital.

But Mr. Bennett's son, David Jr, said he hoped his father's transplant would "be the beginning of hope and not the end" according to the Associated Press (AP).

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