Girl in court challenge gets lung transplant

BY MARYCLAIRE DALE

AND MALCOLM RITTER

The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA -- A 10-year-old girl whose efforts to qualify for an organ donation spurred public debate over how organs are allocated underwent a successful double-lung transplant Wednesday, the girl's family said.

Sarah Murnaghan, who suffers from severe cystic fibrosis, received new lungs from an adult donor at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, spokeswoman Tracy Simon said.

The Murnaghan family of Newtown Square, Pa., said it was "thrilled" to share the news that Sarah was out of surgery.

Sarah went into surgery around 11 a.m. Wednesday, and the procedure lasted about six hours, her family said.

"The surgeons had no challenges resizing and transplanting the donor lungs -- the surgery went smoothly, and Sarah did extremely well," it said.

Sarah's family and the family of another cystic fibrosis patient at the same hospital challenged transplant policy that made children under 12 wait for pediatric lungs to become available or be offered lungs donated by adults only after adolescents and adults on the waiting list had been considered. They said pediatric lungs are rarely donated.

Sarah's aunt, Sharon Ruddock, said the donor lungs came in through normal channels as a result of being on the adult donor list.

Sarah's health was deteriorating when a judge intervened in her case last week, giving her a chance at the much larger list of organs from adult donors. U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson ruled June 5 that Sarah and 11-year-old Javier Acosta, of the Bronx, should be eligible for adult lungs.

Critics warned there could be a downside to having judges intervene in the transplant system's established procedures. Lung transplants are difficult, and some experts say child patients tend to have more trouble with them than adults do.