Baby Moses Shows Heart Rejection Sign

Baby Moses, the infant who received a human heart transplant when he was 4 days old on Nov. 20 at Loma Linda University Medical Center, was listed in good condition Thursday after a statement by his doctor that he showed signs of rejecting the heart.

In a statement released by the hospital, Dr. Leonard Bailey said that a “modest increase” in the baby’s immune reaction to the transplant had been seen since Tuesday but that he is “being treated appropriately to prevent rejection.”

“All of his systems seem to be functioning normally,” Bailey’s statement said.

Born With Problem

The infant, identified only as Baby Moses, received the transplant Nov. 20 after being born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, the same type of fatal birth defect that afflicted the infant known as Baby Fae, in whom Bailey implanted a baboon heart in October, 1984.

Baby Moses is said to be the youngest person ever to receive a heart transplant. Previous infant recipients of human heart transplants have been a 10-day-old girl who received a transplant in England in July, 1984, and who died 26 days later, and a 2 1/2-week-old New York boy who died less than seven hours after surgery in 1967.

Bailey and medical center spokesmen have declined to discuss any details about the Baby Moses case beyond those issued weekly since the transplant. Thursday’s statement said that further condition reports will be at the discretion of the parents.

Monday Night Football

Baby Moses’ father was quoted as saying that he and his son had watched the Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins football game on television Monday night.

“It was his first football game. I held him in my arms and talked to him. During the half time he fell asleep,” the father said.

“When we talk to him, he looks right into our eyes,” the parent was quoted as saying. “When we rock him, he falls asleep in our arms.”

The baby’s mother said that “he knows our touch. He feels our presence, and seems to sense our love. We can see it in his eyes.”