The Region - News from June 19, 1985

The doctor who transplanted a baboon heart into an ailing infant may wait as much as a year before trying the operation again, a spokesman for Loma Linda University Medical Center said. Dr. Leonard Bailey’s first such operation--which ended with the death of the recipient, identified only as Baby Fae, just 20 1/2 days later--stirred considerable controversy, and hospital spokesman Dick Schaefer said approval for a second attempt could take from three months to a year. “It’s not . . . a rubber-stamp decision,” Schaefer said. “He would have to convince (hospital authorities) the next baby would have a better chance at survival.” Moreover, Schaefer said, Bailey has indicated that he would like to publish his findings in the Baby Fae case before performing another primate transplant.