contract analysis

On February 7 , 2004 , Duke University Hospital patient Jesica Santillan received a heart-lung transplant . However , the organs she received were not compatible in terms of blood type . This was not discovered until the procedure had been virtually completed , and the mistake was the result of miscommunication between Santillan 's surgeon - Dr . Jim Jaggers - and the organ transplant agency

When the mistake was discovered , both Dr . Jaggers and Duke University Hospital officials immediately took steps to handle the situation . Dr Jaggers informed the Santillan family what had happened , while hospital officials offered

all its medical resources to treat Jesica Furthermore , the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS ) was contacted and informed that Jesica Santillan was in dire need of another transplant

In the week following the first transplant , Duke cooperated with the Santillan family , revealing in four news reports only that Jesica was rejecting the organs . This was all the family wanted the public to know Then , on February 14 , the Santillan family representative revealed to the media that there was a mismatch in the blood type of the donor organs . Two days later , the story was put in a local news , and after that publication , Duke hospital officials confirmed for the first time what had happened in a press conference

Just one day shy of two weeks , new organs were located and sent to Duke University Hospital , and on February 20 , a second transplant procedure was done . Despite the organs functioning well , Jesica 's body had deteriorated too much . After several tests had been done , it was determined that she no longer had any brain function . As a result , she was declared dead . Before stopping all artificial assistance to keep her alive , her family was given an opportunity to say good-bye and a priest was able to deliver last rites . When this had been done , all medication was stopped and Jesica was removed from the ventilator . Seven minutes after five in the evening , her heart stopped , and she was officially pronounced dead

In a situation such as this , one question comes to mind : how could this tragedy have been prevented ? Within the article , Duke University Hospital officials presented several explanations for every step they took in dealing with Jesica 's case . The first point they made was to state that in regards to organ transplantation , there are not enough organs available for all those that need them . This fact , combined with the mistake made with Jesica Santillan , presented the hospital with a medical situation that rarely happens . Therefore , whatever steps they took to deal with the situation were the best decisions that could be made at the time

The next point that was made concerns the revealing of information concerning the blood-typing mistake . In response to questions about why it was not immediately revealed when it happened , hospital officials stated two reasons for why they kept silent . First , the Santillan family did not want information concerning the mistake revealed to the public Secondly , .it would not have been appropriate...