Loma Linda Officials Reconsidering ‘Baby Jesse’ Case

“Baby Jesse� underwent a heart operation to temporarily improve his blood flow at a Los Angeles-area hospital Wednesday as doctors and administrators at Loma Linda Medical Center met to decide whether to reverse themselves and accept the 11-day-old boy as a heart transplant candidate.

They had turned the child away earlier, reportedly because his parents are unmarried and too young--and therefore possibly ill-equipped to supply the intensive care the infant would need after a transplant.

After Loma Linda’s 20-member transplant committee discussed the matter, a hospital spokeswoman issued a carefully worded statement late Wednesday indicating no change in the hospital’s position.

“Loma Linda University Medical Center remains in contact with Baby Jesse’s physicians,� it said. “The . . . transplantation committee has expressed to them its willingness to review any new information concerning this baby.�

As the committee met, the mother of Baby Jesse, who has asked to remain anonymous, reminded reporters through a spokeswoman that Wednesday was her 17th birthday. “The only present that I could ever ask for is a chance for my son’s life--for a heart transplant--so he’ll have a chance to reach his first birthday,� she said.

It was in the hospital where he was born that Jesse underwent open heart surgery. The child was born on May 25 with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which is invariably fatal.

Jesse barely survived the operation, according to Susan Carpenter McMillan, an official of the anti-abortion Right to Life League of Southern California and a family spokeswoman. She said the parents do not want the name of the hospital disclosed.

“Apparently, his heart rate dropped and they had to stop (the operation) for a time,� McMillan said. The operation was intended “to buy some time� while awaiting for Loma Linda’s decision, she said.

Later in the day, McMillan reported that the child was recovering from the surgery in “excellent condition. . . . Everything is looking good right now except for Loma Linda.�

McMillan and Father Michael Carcerano, a Roman Catholic priest in Pasadena who had baptized the boy, called attention to the case at a press conference on Tuesday when they charged that Loma Linda rejected the child as a transplant candidate because his parents are unmarried, young (the father is 26) and had considered putting Jesse up for adoption before his birth.

According to McMillan, it was after the parents agreed to relinquish custody of the child to either set of grandparents that Loma Linda decided to reconsider the case.