1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,480 Speaker 1: Hey, history fans, here's a rerun for today, brought to 2 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: you by Tracy V. Wilson. Welcome to this Day in 3 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:10,360 Speaker 1: History Class from how Stuff Works dot Com and from 4 00:00:10,360 --> 00:00:12,600 Speaker 1: the desk of Stuff you missed in History Class. It's 5 00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:14,880 Speaker 1: the show where we explore the past one day at 6 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:17,079 Speaker 1: a time with a quick look at what happened today 7 00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:24,160 Speaker 1: in history. Hi, this is Holly Fry. I am sitting 8 00:00:24,200 --> 00:00:28,040 Speaker 1: in for Tracy V. Wilson this week. It's December, and 9 00:00:28,160 --> 00:00:31,639 Speaker 1: on this day in nineteen fifty four, the first successful 10 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:35,559 Speaker 1: living donor kidney transplantation was completed. Twenty three year old 11 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:39,600 Speaker 1: Richard Herrick, freshly discharged from the Coast Guard, was diagnosed 12 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:44,680 Speaker 1: with serious kidney inflammation called chronic nephritis on October nineteen 13 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:48,280 Speaker 1: fifty four. He was referred to Peter Bent Brigham Hospital 14 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:51,760 Speaker 1: and Harvard Medical School, where a team led by surgeon 15 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:54,800 Speaker 1: and Professor Joseph Murray and Dr John Merrill had been 16 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:59,200 Speaker 1: working on the idea of kidney transplants. Medically, Richard Herrick 17 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:02,640 Speaker 1: was a very good candidate for transplant because he had 18 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:07,520 Speaker 1: an identical twin brother who had two healthy kidneys. Behaviorally, 19 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:11,160 Speaker 1: it was a slightly different story Richard was a difficult patient. 20 00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:13,759 Speaker 1: There was concerned that he might not be the right 21 00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:18,320 Speaker 1: fit for this kind of surgery, but a psychiatrist named Dr. E. M. 22 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:22,360 Speaker 1: Kudaruskus evaluated Richard's behavior and he actually came to the 23 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:27,120 Speaker 1: conclusion that the patient was exhibiting signs of toxic psychosis. Basically, 24 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:30,160 Speaker 1: Richard's infection and the toxic agents in his body were 25 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:34,120 Speaker 1: causing all of that bad behavior. So they decided that 26 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 1: they would go forward, and the team also had to 27 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:40,480 Speaker 1: be very sensitive to the psychological ramifications of asking a 28 00:01:40,520 --> 00:01:44,240 Speaker 1: healthy man his brother to give up one of his kidneys. 29 00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:47,760 Speaker 1: The chief of psychiatry at the hospital was very aware 30 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:50,200 Speaker 1: that there was an ethical issue in the mix as well, 31 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:53,160 Speaker 1: and he wrote in the patient record quote, I think 32 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:55,360 Speaker 1: we have to be careful not to be too much 33 00:01:55,400 --> 00:01:58,600 Speaker 1: swayed by our eagerness to carry out a kidney transplant 34 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:01,600 Speaker 1: successfully for the first time him I e. To succeed 35 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:05,600 Speaker 1: in having it take permanently. It seems to me furthermore 36 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:09,600 Speaker 1: that the potential recipient's mental state is a subsidiary issue. 37 00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:13,040 Speaker 1: The important question would seem to be whether we as 38 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:16,320 Speaker 1: physicians have the right to put the healthy twin under 39 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:19,200 Speaker 1: the pressure of being asked whether he is willing to 40 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:22,360 Speaker 1: make this sacrifice. I do not feel that we have 41 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:24,760 Speaker 1: this right in view of the potential danger to the 42 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:28,000 Speaker 1: healthy twin, as well as the uncertainty of the outcome 43 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:32,399 Speaker 1: for this patient. But even as this issue of ethics 44 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:36,959 Speaker 1: was being really carefully and thoughtfully examined during November of nineteen, 45 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:42,119 Speaker 1: time was kind of assuring things along because Richard's health 46 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:45,760 Speaker 1: was rapidly declining, and so the longer the medical team 47 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:49,120 Speaker 1: wrestled with their ideology and the philosophy behind asking a 48 00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:51,400 Speaker 1: healthy man to give up part of his body to 49 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:56,400 Speaker 1: save his brother, the worst Richard's chances got. Ronald, after 50 00:02:56,480 --> 00:02:59,080 Speaker 1: thinking it through, eventually decided that he was in fact 51 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:01,760 Speaker 1: willing to donate one of his kidneys to his brother. 52 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:04,560 Speaker 1: And everything seemed to be going along just fine. But 53 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:07,000 Speaker 1: at the last minute, it was actually Richard who tried 54 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:09,600 Speaker 1: to put a stop to things. The night before the 55 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:11,920 Speaker 1: surgery was to take place, he sent a note to 56 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:15,840 Speaker 1: his brother telling him to go home, but Ronald replied 57 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:18,080 Speaker 1: with a note of his own and said simply, I 58 00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:21,200 Speaker 1: am here and I am going to stay. Before the 59 00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:23,600 Speaker 1: operation with the Herrick brothers, there was a test run 60 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:27,160 Speaker 1: of the entire procedure on December twenty on a fresh canaver, 61 00:03:27,919 --> 00:03:31,559 Speaker 1: and once this rehearsal was completed, the live procedure was scheduled, 62 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:37,600 Speaker 1: so on December fift am, the operation began. The donor 63 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:40,720 Speaker 1: team was in one operating room and the recipient team 64 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 1: was in the adjacent operating room. The Brigham kidney transplant 65 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:47,720 Speaker 1: team was comprised of doctor's John P. Merrill, who was 66 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:52,960 Speaker 1: head of nephrology, Jay Hartwell Harrison, Chief of Urology, Gustav Dammon, 67 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:57,600 Speaker 1: pathologist in chief, and Joseph E. Murray. The severed, healthy 68 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:00,360 Speaker 1: kidney was transferred from the donor operating room to the 69 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:04,600 Speaker 1: recipient operating room at ninety five am. The operation was 70 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:09,080 Speaker 1: completed at eleven fifteen as clamps were removed and blood 71 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:12,600 Speaker 1: flow was restored to the transplanted organ, and the urinary 72 00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:17,920 Speaker 1: flow began immediately. It is considered the first successful organ transplant. 73 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:22,159 Speaker 1: Richard lived for eight years after this surgery, and in 74 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:24,080 Speaker 1: that time he actually got married to one of the 75 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:26,599 Speaker 1: nurses that he met in the recovery room, and the 76 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:30,400 Speaker 1: couple had two children. His brother, Ronald lived the age 77 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:34,559 Speaker 1: of seventy nine. He died in fifty six years after 78 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:37,560 Speaker 1: donating his kidney to his brother and making history in 79 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:41,520 Speaker 1: the process. Joseph E. Murray was awarded the Nobel Prize 80 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:45,480 Speaker 1: in Physiology or Medicine in nineteen He died in late 81 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:49,800 Speaker 1: twelve at the age of ninety three. Today, more than 82 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:53,440 Speaker 1: thirty thousand organ transplants are performed in the United States 83 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:57,120 Speaker 1: each year, and more than half of those are kidney transplants. 84 00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:01,240 Speaker 1: Thanks for today's episode goes to eve's Jeff Cote who 85 00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:04,559 Speaker 1: worked on research for this casey Pegram and Chandler Maye 86 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:07,480 Speaker 1: for their work on the audio for the episode. And UH, 87 00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:10,200 Speaker 1: you should subscribe to This Day in History Class, which 88 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:13,520 Speaker 1: you can do on Apple Podcast, the I Heart Radio app, 89 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:16,800 Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts. Tomorrow, we're going to 90 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:19,600 Speaker 1: delve into the story behind one of the standard songs 91 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:20,279 Speaker 1: of Christmas.