Man who got pig heart is convicted of stabbing: ‘He doesn’t deserve this’ | Abroad

David Bennett (57) suffered from a terminal heart disease, but survived by becoming the first human ever to have a pig heart implanted. To the horror of the family of one Edward Shumaker, it now appears: that man was stabbed in 1988 by the then 23-year-old Bennett in Hagerstown, near Washington DC. The futile reason: Bennett’s wife at the time had sat on Shumaker’s lap. Bennett then stabbed Shumaker several times in the chest, abdomen and back.

Acquitted for murder

The man ended up in a wheelchair, and died 22 years later of a heart attack. Bennett was convicted of assault and jailed for 10 years, but was acquitted of murder. A drama that has still not been processed by Shumaker’s family. “That heart should have gone to someone else, someone who deserved it,” says his sister Leslie. “Ed just suffered after that. While Bennett was allowed to lead a beautiful life. And now he even gets a second chance with a new heart.”

The hospital that performed the procedure at Bennett, the University of Maryland Medical Center, would not comment on the man’s criminal history. “But the key principle in healthcare is that we treat everyone who is sick,” said New York University bioethics professor Arthur Caplan. “We make no distinction between saints and sinners.”

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