Priority patient on transplant list receives liver

SANTIAGO. -  Just after 5:00 AM this morning a transplant surgery was initiated in an attempt to save the life of 35 year-old Humberto Bastías Peña, who had been placed at the top of the national priority list for a liver after he was diagnosed with an acute case of hepatitis.

According to Dr. Sebastián Bravo of the Intensive Care Unit of the Hospital UC, Bastías entered the medical center’s OR at approximately 7:00 AM and was listed in critical condition, “with several medical complications resulting from insufficient liver function”.

The doctor explained that the surgery would last at least 5 to 6 hours, “due to the type of operation and the complications the patient presented prior to entering the OR”.

Bastías, who has been hospitalized at the Hospital UC medical facility since Tuesday of last week, is an Engineering student and has a wife with whom he is awaiting his first child.

The donor of the organ was from Santiago, although his or her identity has been kept confidential.  Thanks to the close location of the donor, the transportation and surgery were able to be performed right away.