The Region - News from Dec. 3, 1986

An 8 1/2-week-old Canadian girl born with a fatal heart defect became the seventh infant to receive a human heart transplant at the Loma Linda University Medical Center. Baby Kari, of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, was reported in critical condition after undergoing the four-hour surgery in the early morning hours Tuesday, a hospital spokeswoman said. The infant was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a condition in which the side of the heart that pumps blood fails to develop. Baby Kari’s parents, identified only as Ken, 30, a corrections officer, and Linda, 28, a registered nurse, brought her to Loma Linda soon after she was born. But the newborn had to wait seven weeks until a donor heart could be obtained. The surgery was performed by Dr. Leonard Bailey, who had no comment.