In 2009, Colleen S. Burns was on a hospital table. She had been pronounced dead, and doctors were preparing to remove her organs. Then she woke up.


The Syracuse Post-Standard recently obtained a report[1] about the St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center incident under New York's Freedom of Information Law. The report revealed a number of mistakes in caring for Burns, including the fact that one nurse suspected she was improving, alerted doctors and was ignored.


Hospital staff concluded Burns, who had overdosed on Xanax, Benadryl and a muscle relaxant, was brain dead. Brain death[2] occurs when oxygen from blood is no longer delivered to the brain, causing all brain activity to stop permanently, meaning there is no chance the person will wake up, HuffPost previously reported. After Burns woke up[3] , hospital officials decided the drug overdose could have accounted for her unresponsive state, ABC News reported. Burns was discharged two weeks later, and the hospital was fined $6,000.


While obviously frightening, a mistake like this is "exceedingly rare,"[4] American Academy of Neurology member Dr. Eelco Wijdicks told ABC News. He explained that the Academy's guidelines call for "about 25 tests for doctors to perform to be absolutely sure a patient won't get better."


Watch the video above for more.



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  • Double-Leg Transplant


    <strong>When and Where:</strong> July 2011, Spain

    A young man in his 20s underwent a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/12/double-leg-transplant-first_n_896442.html" target="_hplink">10-hour surgery in Valencia</a> just last Sunday to give him a new set of legs. Doctors hope that the patient will be able to walk with the help of crutches within about a year -- depending on how his nerves regenerate.

    A double-leg transplant had never been attempted before, in large part because in most cases of leg amputation, highly effective prosthetic legs can be used instead. The effectiveness of this surgery remains to be seen, but Dr. Pedro Cavadas, the doctor who performed the surgery, is hopeful. Dr. Cavadas <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/12/double-leg-transplant-first_n_896442.html" target="_hplink">also performed the first face and double-hand transplants</a> done in Spain.

    Photo Credit: Getty




  • Artificial Windpipe


    <strong>When and Where:</strong> July 2011, Sweden

    Not only did this surgery mark the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/07/artificial-windpipe-transplant_n_892350.html" target="_hplink">first time an artificial windpipe was transplanted</a>, but it also marked the first time any synthetic organ had been transplanted. The windpipe was created in a lab in England and then coated in the patient's stem cells before the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/07/artificial-windpipe-transplant_n_892350.html" target="_hplink">12-hour surgery began</a>. These cells mean that he does not have to fear organ rejection, as most transplant patients do and is not on any sort of immunosuppressive drugs.




  • Full-Face Transplant


    <strong>When and Where: </strong>March 2010, Spain

    Also performed in Spain, the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/26/oscar-first-full-face-tra_n_659196.html" target="_hplink">world's first full-face transplant</a> occurred just last year (the first partial-face transplant happened in 2005). The patient was a 31-year-old farmer who had accidentally shot himself in the face a few years prior. He is still undergoing physical therapy, although much of the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/26/oscar-first-full-face-tra_n_659196.html" target="_hplink">sensation in his face has returned</a> and his muscles have developed. Only a week after the transplant, he began to grow a beard.

    The <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/09/face-transplant-press-conference_n_859391.html?" target="_hplink">first full-face transplant in the United States</a> occurred this past May.




  • U.S. Double-Hand Transplant


    <strong>When and Where:</strong> May 2009, Pittsburgh

    Although it was the ninth double-hand transplant in the world, the nine-hour surgery marked the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/06/double-hand-transplant-ge_n_198538.html" target="_hplink">first time that this procedure had been done in the United States</a>. Georgia native Jeff Kepner, 58, had lost his hands 10 years earlier to a bacterial infection. Although the surgery was an initial success, Kepner is <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/08/26/double.hand.transplant/index.html" target="_hplink">still undergoing intensive physical therapy</a> and has not regained full control over his new apendages.

    Photo Credit: Getty




  • Technological Innovation


    More and more, technological innovation is the driving force behind saving lives through transplantation. At recent TED conferences, two lectures were given that clearly demonstrated the exciting progress that is on the horizon.

    At TEDMED 2010, thoracic surgeon, Dr. Shaf Keshavjee, M.D., <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/31/tedmed-2010-superorgans_n_811894.html" target="_hplink">showed the audience a machine that allows an organ to survive</a> for an extended period of time outside of the body at a normal temperature. This allows an organ to be examined and treated before it is put into the recipient's body. Keshavejee demonstrated the machine's efficacy by allowing audience members to come up at touch a live pig's lung that had been recovered earlier that day.

    At a TED conference this past March, <a href="http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-surgeon-kidney-ted-stage.html" target="_hplink">Dr. Anthony Atala used a bioprinting machine</a> to print out the mold of a human kidney. As this technology is developed further, scientists hope that it could eventually (most likely not for years) lead to the ability to print out fully-functional, artificial organs.




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