The Organ Thieves: The Shocking Story of the First Heart Transplant in the Segregated South

Before the start of the trial, Judge Compton invoked his judicial authority to narrow the scope of the lawsuit and to reduce the number of defendants. The list of defendants was limited to the three surgeons who performed the heart transplant and the assistant medical examiner. In addition, the judge dismissed the allegation that “the transplant team committed an ‘unlawful invasion of a near relative’s rights with respect to a dead body’” (250). Such a claim was subject to a one-year statute of limitations, which had passed, and was separate from the wrongful death statutes, which applied. This ruling reduced the potential payout from $1 million to $100,000.

In his opening statement, Wilder emphasized the Virginia law defining death as the cessation of life. In contrast, Jack Russell argued that “death ‘is a question of medical fact and opinion’” (252). He noted that Bruce Tucker was unresponsive and claimed that Bruce was never the patient of the heart transplant surgeons, that they had nothing to do with his care, and in effect, that Wilder was suing the wrong doctors.

Wilder’s first witness was