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A sick Maryland man who received the heart of a pig last week in a pioneering transplant procedure He has a criminal record for an attack 34 years ago that left a young man paralyzed by multiple stabbings.

According to his sister, Leslie Shumaker Downey, victim Edward Shumaker spent twenty years in a wheelchair, was paralyzed from the waist down, and suffered numerous medical complications, including a stroke, before dying in 2007 at age 40. , Frederick, Md.

Washington post first reported The transplant patient’s criminal record and the assault that led to it on Thursday. The revelations sparked controversy over how patients were selected for cutting-edge medical care.

David Bennett Sr., 57, is being watched closely at the University of Maryland Medical Center for signs that his body is rejecting a heart from a genetically engineered pig. Hospital officials said he was still in good condition Thursday.

The attack occurred on April 30, 1988, when Mr. Shumaker, 22, was drinking in a bar and talking to Mr. Bennett’s wife. Mr. Bennett, out of obvious jealousy, repeatedly stabbed Mr. Shumaker in the back.

Ms. Downey said the attack devastated the family and the aftermath. “It destroyed my families,” he said. “It was just hell.”

According to court records obtained by The New York Times, he was charged with bodily harm, assault and manslaughter, but was found guilty of carrying fewer batteries and concealed weapons and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. In addition, Mr. Shumaker was ordered to pay $29,824 in compensation, but Ms. Downey said she did not comply.

According to court records, Mr. Shumaker and his family sued Mr. Bennett to recover his substantial medical expenses and were awarded $3.4 million in damages. Ms. Downey said the family never received any money.

“The transplant gave him life,” Ms Downey said of Mr Bennett. “But my brother didn’t get a second chance at life. Ed struggled every day for 19 years. No one deserves what he went through.”

But Mr. Bennett’s doctors said such shocking stories did not deter patients from receiving state-of-the-art medical procedures.

Officials at the University of Maryland Medical Center, where the transplant operation was carried out, said in a statement that healthcare professionals are committed to treating all patients, regardless of their background or living conditions.

“It is the serious obligation of any hospital or healthcare organization to provide life-saving care to every patient who walks through its door based on their medical needs,” the authorities said.

“Any other standard of care would set a dangerous precedent and violate the ethical and moral values ​​that underlie the obligation of doctors and caregivers to all patients under their care.”

Through the medical center, Mr. Bennett Sr.’s son, David Bennett Jr., who was a young boy when the attack took place, declined to comment on his father’s criminal history.

“I don’t want to talk about my father’s past,” she said in a statement through the University of Maryland. “My intention is to focus on groundbreaking surgery and my father’s desire to contribute to science and potentially save patients’ lives in the future.”

Karen J. Maschke, a research associate at the Hastings Center and editor of Ethics & Human Research, said doctors often don’t vet patients on whether they deserve treatment.

“There’s a long standing standard in medical ethics that physicians don’t choose who they treat,” he said. He noted that the problem arose in the context of people imprisoned and enemies at war, and more recently people with Covid who chose not to be vaccinated.

“If you had to pick and choose, where would you draw the line?” Dr. Maschke asked.

Arthur Caplan, professor of bioethics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, argued that the anger expressed on social media against Mr. Bennett Sr. was not justified. The transplant isn’t just the first of its kind — it’s highly experimental and can be unsuccessful, he said.

Dr. “To be clear, he never took a human organ from anyone,” Caplan said. “No one died because this man had a pig’s heart.”

The heart transplanted into Mr. Bennett came from a genetically engineered pig supplied by Revivicor, a regenerative medicine company in Blacksburg, Va.

The pig’s genome carried 10 modifications, including inactivated genes, to reduce aggressive human rejection responses and prevent the heart from continuing to grow after implantation.

Six human genes have been inserted to make pig organs more tolerant to the human immune system.

There is an acute shortage of organs for people with kidney, heart, lung and other organ failure, and it is hoped that perfecting the science of transplants from genetically modified animals will usher in a new era in which patients will no longer die while waiting. spare kidney or heart.

Susan C. Beachy contributed to research.