The Organ Thieves: The Shocking Story of the First Heart Transplant in the Segregated South

Transient respiratory cessation is known as apnea. A state in which a patient experiences “temporary suspension of breathing” (151) is an apneic state. Bruce Tucker was in an apneic state approximately 10 hours after his emergency surgery. He was placed on a ventilator, and physicians considered death imminent. The transplant surgeons, interested in his organs, followed his case.

Biological death is the “cessation of a patient’s heartbeat, pulse, or breathing” (101). Virginia law recognized only this definition of death when Bruce Tucker’s transplant occurred. Based on that definition, Wilder filed a wrongful death lawsuit claiming that Tucker was not legally dead when his organs were taken.

Clinical death is the “total cessation of brain function” (263). Dr. Hooshmand, who was the consulting neurologist at MCV and tested Bruce Tucker, declared him clinically dead. His heart was kept alive only because of a mechanical respirator. It was this definition of death that the MCV defense convinced the judge and jury to apply in the Tucker case.

Monies awarded to a plaintiff in a civil lawsuit, compensatory damages reimburse that individual or entity for loss and/or harm. The prosecuting attorney, Wilder, sought compensatory damages for William Tucker over his brother’s death.

In a craniotomy, surgeons drill a hole in the skull. This procedure was done on Bruce Tucker to relieve pressure in his brain. While he improved slightly after the surgery, his condition deteriorated within 10 hours.

In the 19th century, a demonstrator had the task of obtaining corpses for purposes of dissection at medical schools. This role often fell to the junior professor of anatomy and involved obtaining bodies from grave robbers or engaging in such theft. Jones places the theft of Bruce Tucker’s organs in the historical context of grave robbery, which disproportionately targeted African Americans.

An EEG is a medical test that measures brain activity. After this test revealed that Bruce Tucker had no brain activity, a physician pronounced him dead. At that time in Virginia, cessation of brain activity did not fit the legal definition of death.

Punitive damages are monies awarded in a civil trial in excess of compensatory damages and are intended to punish the defendant. Wilder sought both punitive and compensatory damages in the lawsuit against MCV.

In the 19th century, grave robbers were called resurrectionists. Jones explains that the education of physicians at that time relied on the illegal and unethical practice of grave robbery.

In law, a statute of limitations sets a strict deadline for filing a lawsuit from the time of an accident or injury. The judge invoked such a statute in the Tucker case to eliminate all but the wrongful death claim, leaving the jury to determine only whether Bruce Tucker was deceased at the time of the transplant. If the jury found that he was, it could not compensate the Tucker family or hold MCV accountable.

A subdural hematoma is “a collection of blood” between a cracked skull and the brain. Bruce Tucker experienced a subdural hematoma on the left side of his brain, and this was the reason for his emergency surgeries.