Monday, February 24, 2003
Partly Cloudy High 58, Low 33 www.chronicle,duke.edu Vol. 98, No. 105
The Chronicle
Climbing back The men’s basketball team won its third straight game Saturday, beating N.C. State 79-68, Sportswrap page 4 See
THE INDEPENDENT DAILY AT DUKE UNIVERSITY
Santillan family mourns Jesica, plans suit By MIKE MILLER The Chronicle
After two heart-lung transplants and nearly two weeks of life support, perhaps the frail body of 17-year-old Jesica Santillan just had enough. Jesica was declared dead at 1:25 p.m. Saturday, following confirmation from several brain scans and neurologic examinations that she had lost all brain activity. Life support was continued throughout the afternoon so the family could say goodbye, and Jesica’s brand new heart stopped beating at 5:07 p.m. On Feb. 7, a heart and lungs of incompatible blood type were initially transplanted into the girl, whose body rejected the organs, necessitating a second transplant. Following nearly two weeks of life support and declining health, a compatible set of organs was located and transplanted into Jesica early Thursday morning. Although her new heart and lungs were functioning well following the second operation, Jesica’s neurologic status began to deteriorate rapidly. A CT scan conducted 3 a.m. Friday revealed life-threatening swelling and bleeding within the brain, forcing placement of a catheter to drain fluid and measure pressure. ■ Evaluation by a neurologist that morning established irreversible brain damage and a lack ofbrain function. Further tests and scans followed Saturday, and by 1 p.m., a neurologist confirmed that Jesica met the criteria for brain death. A day before the second transplant, a See JESICA on page 8
CHILDREN ACROSS THE STREET FROM DUKE HOSPITAL gather Sunday evening to mourn the passing of Jesica Santillan
Hospital officials detail errors that led to organ transplant mix-up By MIKE MILLER The Chronicle
Following the end of Jesica Santillan’s struggles, Duke Hospital’s own ordeal may be just beginning. The Hospital has been targeted with intense criticism for both its mistaken Feb. 7 transplantation of a heart and lungs of incompatible blood type into 17-year-old Jesica and for its conduct in the aftermath. Now, the Santillan family is considering legal action, multiple health care overseers are conducting investigations and
the national press is asking questions. Family friend and spokesperson Mack Mahoney has complained of the Hospital’s aggressive attempts to underplay the severity of its mistake and to keep details from the media. In a press conference Thursday—after the second transplant, but before the revelation of serious complications —Mahoney argued that the Hospital delayed his attempts to draw media attention to Jesica, dangerously prolonging the time she spent on life support. Doctors have told the family Jesica’s eventual death
probably stemmed from the lengthy time she spent on life support. “Had Duke just admitted this mistake a few days earlier, we wouldn’t be facing these problems today,” he said Thursday. “If she dies, [Duke] murdered her.” Acknowledging the eventual transplant was not the result of a direct donation, Mahoney explained that attention to Jesica may have encouraged open organ donations, citing as proof the quick turnaround from when the story See ORGANS on page 9
Collison seeks triumphant return to student government ing DSG’s effectiveness arose from student leaders’ inability to think beyond a one-year term. “That’s not the way you want to go into DSG, thinking that everything is an By CAROLINE BIERBAUM and CINDY YEE August to May issue,” said Collison, a The Chronicle public policy studies major. “You have to It has been two years since Taylor be willing to sacrifice being able to say, Collison left Duke Student Government, ‘Here’s what I did for you this year,’ to an organization he remembers as unfosay, ‘This is what you’ll have in 10 years.’” Nevertheless, Collison said he has cused and plagued by an excess of internal politics. Now, as a junior who has resome immediate student concerns that mained active in campus life, he hopes hp hopes legislators will address in the 2003-2004 academic year. The Academic to lead DSG. This year, Collison serves as Craven Affairs Committee should conduct a reQuadrangle president and social chair for assessment of Curriculum 2000 by next December, and should help the Honor Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. He said Council educate students on the new student honor code, known as the Duke his experiences with X Community Standard, Collison said. these groups have He also outlined three primary areas allowed him to stay for DSG’s Facilities and Athletics Comin touch with a wide mittee to address —the planned “student cross-section of stuvillage,” library renovations and roads. In dents and have helped him hone his abihties to take stu- regard to the village, Perkins Library and Bryan Center, Collison said DSG should dent concerns from discussion to action. Collison, who hails from Winter See COLLISON on page 10 Park, Fla., said recent questions regard-
This is the first story in a five-part series profiling this year’s candidates for Duke Student Government president.
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TAYLOR COLLISON, one of the five candidates running for Duke Student Government president, hopes to integrate long-term planning into how DSG operates. —
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sees challenges for the post. See page 3
A candidate for DSG’s vice president for student affairs
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