The troubled past of the first patient to have a pig’s heart transplant has resurfaced in the past few days.
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David Bennett, who shot to fame last week for undergoing historic surgery, allegedly stabbed a man seven times in 1988, according to The Washington Post.
At the time, Bennett walked into a bar in Maryland where he spotted his then-wife drinking and talking with a friend of his, Edward Shumaker. Seeing his wife sitting on his high school boyfriend’s lap, David Bennett allegedly threw a fit of jealousy leading him to hit Mr. Shumaker from behind while he was playing pool. He then allegedly stabbed him seven times, wounding him in the abdomen, chest and back.
Bennett then fled and was arrested following a high-speed police chase. He was charged with attempted murder, but was acquitted. David Bennett, however, was found guilty of assault and battery as well as carrying a concealed weapon.
He received a ten-year prison sentence and was released following six years of detention. Bennett was also ordered to pay his victim US$3.4 million, but according to Edward Shumaker’s daughter, he and his family never received a penny.
Mr. Shumaker remained paralyzed until his death in 2007, when he was 41 years old. The man, who was now forced to move around in a wheelchair, died of a heart attack.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Edward Shumaker’s sister, Leslie Shumaker Downey, said David Bennett’s gesture caused pain in his family for years. According to her, it would have been better if the pig’s heart had been transplanted into another person.
