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

After finishing work for the week at a food-packing plant on May 24, 1968, Bruce Tucker sat on a wall outside with coworkers, sharing drinks and talking. When Bruce fell off the wall, he hit his head, injuring it badly. He arrived at MCV via ambulance at six o’clock that evening. A first responder noted that Bruce had been drinking, might have had a seizure, and had a contusion on the back of his head. The ambulance driver noted that Bruce was “‘disoriented, combative with flaccid right arm and leg’” (142). A subsequent X-ray indicated that Bruce had a fracture at the base of his skull. Diagnosed with a subdural hematoma, or collection of blood between his skull and the left side of his brain, Bruce underwent two surgeries at 11 o’clock: a craniotomy, a hole drilled in his skull to relieve pressure on the brain, and a tracheotomy to allow him to breathe.

As word of his poor condition spread, physicians in the surgery department mused about his candidacy as an organ donor around midnight. Joseph G. Klett, a white patient at MCV, had severe heart disease and was in dire need of a transplant.