Condition of Japanese Girl Waiting for Donor Heart Deteriorates
An 8-year-old Japanese girl suffered a heart attack Wednesday as she waited for a donor heart in the intensive care unit at UCLA Medical Center, hospital officials said.
Miyuki Monobe of Shinagawa, Japan, who was placed on a heart-lung machine after the morning heart attack, was reportedly in critical condition late Wednesday.
“She’s doing badly,” said medical center spokeswoman Ruthie Marek. “She’s very, very sick.”
The girl was born with a large hole in her heart and a narrow aorta, which supplies blood to the body and brain. Doctors say they do not know how much longer she can survive because her lungs, kidneys and other organs are suffering strain from her heart’s inability to pump blood efficiently.
She came to the United States for a transplant because the procedures are virtually nonexistent in Japan, where brain death is not legally accepted. Officials there declare a patient dead only after the heart stops beating--but at that point, the organ deteriorates quickly and becomes unsuitable for transplantation.
The girl, who arrived in California on Saturday, was placed on the United Network for Organ Sharing heart transplant list Monday, but so far, a donor heart has not become available, Marek said.
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