First Recipient of Genetically Modified Pig Kidney Dies Within 2 Months

Melissa Mattola-Kiatos, RN, nursing practice specialist, removes the pig kidney from its box to prepare for transplantation at Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston, Mass., on March 16, 2024. Richard “Rick” Slayman, the first recipient of a genetically modified pig kidney transplant, has died nearly two months after he underwent the procedure, his family and the hospital that performed the surgery said on May 11, 2024. Massachusetts General Hospital via AP

A man who was the first to receive a genetically modified pig kidney transplant has died just two months after undergoing the procedure, his family and the hospital that performed the surgery said on May 11.

Doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital conducted the procedure on 62-year-old Richard “Rick” Slayman of Weymouth, Massachusetts in March. At the time, surgeons were confident the pig kidney would last for at least two years.