Retarded Woman Gets Heart-Lung Transplant

A woman with Down’s syndrome who was initially refused a heart-lung transplant because doctors didn’t think she was smart enough to handle the aftereffects underwent the desperately needed operation Tuesday.

Sandra Jensen, 35, is believed to be the first seriously retarded person in the United States to receive a major transplant.

She was listed in critical but stable condition--routine for transplant recipients--after the five-hour operation, which came after Stanford Medical Center reversed course.

The Sacramento woman had congenital heart problems that became critical a year ago.

However, she was rejected for transplant surgery at both Stanford and UC San Diego.

The surgery was not “appropriate” for a person with Down’s syndrome, Stanford wrote in a March 1995 letter. UCSD questioned whether she had the intelligence to follow through with the difficult post-operative regimen.