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Bali Today – Ubud, July 26, 2025
By Fitriani, Bali Today
In a medical first that blurs the line between life and death, Duke University surgeons restarted a clinically dead infant’s heart for transplantation – six minutes after it stopped beating. The successfully transplanted organ now beats in another baby’s chest, raising both hope and ethical firestorms.
1 The Miracle Procedure
How? Using a custom-built “heart in a box” system (mini oxygenator + centrifugal pump) never before scaled for infants
Why? Standard organ preservation systems are too large for baby hearts
The Twist: Surgeons bypassed ethical landmines by only reviving the heart – not the donor’s brain or circulation
“Think of it as jumpstarting a car battery,” lead surgeon Dr. Jacob Schroder told NEJM. “The engine runs, but the driver’s long gone.”
2 The Ethical Minefield
While three babies now live with these “reanimated” hearts, critics slam the practice as “medical necromancy”:
✓ “Are we playing God?” – Reviving organs after death declaration
✓ The “Butterfly Effect” – Could this pressure families to donate?
✓ Black Mirror Warning – What happens when this tech scales to adults?
3 The Breakthrough No One’s Talking About
The real innovation? A proprietary preservation fluid that:
Kept donor hearts viable for hours outside the body
Showed zero rejection in recipients after 6+ months
Could end transplant waiting lists… if ethics boards agree
The Big Question:
Is restarting dead hearts medical progress – or the start of a dystopian organ trade?
