Girl, 17, Dies After Second Heart-Liver Implant in 4 Days

A Texas teen-ager undergoing her second heart-liver transplant died of cardiac arrest Friday as doctors removed her from the heart-lung bypass machine used to pump blood and operate her lung during surgery.

Mary Cheatham, 17, of Lake Worth, died at Presbyterian University Hospital, spokeswoman Isabelle Davis said.

Both new organs had been transplanted before death, but Cheathams’s new heart failed when she was taken off the machine, Davis said.

Her first double transplant ended Tuesday, but the organs proved to be too large. On Thursday, the transplant team decided to try an unprecedented second double transplant.