SHARE

Pig-Heart Transplant Patient Not 'Deserving' Due To Criminal Past, Victim's Family Says

A man who made history as the world's first pig-heart transplant recipient was convicted of stabbing a man in the 1980s, making him undeserving of the transplant, the victim's family tells the Washington Post.

Pig-Heart Transplant Recipient David Bennett Sr.

Pig-Heart Transplant Recipient David Bennett Sr.

Photo Credit: UMD School of Medicine
Pig-Heart Transplant Recipient David Bennett Sr.

Pig-Heart Transplant Recipient David Bennett Sr.

Photo Credit: UMD School of Medicine
Bennett and family.

Bennett and family.

Photo Credit: UMD School of Medicine

David Bennett Sr., 57, received a genetically modified pig-heart to replace his own after he was diagnosed with terminal heart disease. Thirty-four years earlier, Bennett Sr. stabbed Edward Schumaker multiple times, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down, The Post says.

"He gets a second chance with a new heart — but I wish, in my opinion, it had gone to a deserving recipient,” Leslie Shumaker Downey, the sister of Edward told the Washington Post. 

When he was 23 years old, Bennett Sr., attacked Shumaker during a round of pool after his wife at the time sat on Schumaker's lap. Court testimony shows that Bennett Sr., stabbed Shumaker seven times and then fled, triggering a high-speed chase by police that ended with his arrest.

He was later convicted by a jury of battery and carrying a concealed weapon, Bennett Sr. was also ordered to pay $29,824 in restitution and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was released in 1994 after serving six years. 

Edward Schumaker, meanwhile, went on to spend two decades in a wheelchair and suffer a stroke that left him impaired. He eventually passed away at the age of 40 in 2007.

Click here for more from the Washington Post.

to follow Daily Voice Edison and receive free news updates.

SCROLL TO NEXT ARTICLE