Ep 47-Fatal Mismatch: A Transplant Tragedy episode artwork

EPISODE · Jan 2, 2026 · 1H

Ep 47-Fatal Mismatch: A Transplant Tragedy

from Doctoring the Truth · host Jenne Tunnell and Amanda House

Send us Fan MailA teenage girl crosses a border for a chance at life—and loses it to a mistake so basic it should have been impossible. We dive into the case of Jesica Santillán, the 17-year-old who received an incompatible heart-lung transplant, and trace how a single missed safeguard exposed cracks across donor services, hospital protocols, and communication chains. This isn’t a story about rare complications or experimental risk; it’s about the simplest check in medicine—blood type matching—and how failing it changed transplant safety nationwide.If the episode moved you, share it with a friend who works in healthcare, leave a review to help others find the show, and follow us for more cases that challenge and change the way we think about medicine.Resources: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/anatomy-of-a-mistake-04-09-2003/ https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMp030033?download=true https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25077248/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesica_Santillan https://www.jstor.org/stable/3528375?read-now=1&seq=2#page_scan_tab_contents https://www.wral.com/10-years-later-questions-surround-jesica-s-hope-chest-charity/12997462/ https://corporate.dukehealth.org/news/duke-releases-letter-unos-concerning-jesica-santillan https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/23/us/girl-in-transplant-mix-up-dies-after-two-weeks.html  Support the showDon't miss a (heart) beat! Check out our Instagram @doctoringthetruthpodcast and email us your Medical Mishaps at [email protected]. Join us on Facebook at Doctoring the Truth, and TikTok @doctoring the truth. Don't forget to download, rate, and review so we can keep bringing you more exciting content each week!Stay safe, and stay suspicious...trust, after all, is a delicate thing!Don't forget to check out these fantastic discounts using promo code STAYSUSPICIOUS from our sponsors at:*thecuminclub.com for 30% off*https://strongcoffeecompany.com/discount/STAYSUSPICIOUS for 20% off*www.handful.com for 30% off *www.standshoes.com for 15% off*www.oldglory.com for 15% off*www.getcheeky.com for 30% off*https://mollybz.com for 10% off *www.RSRVCollective.com for 30% off *klearprotein.com for 20% off*www.torrain.org for 15% off*www.cozyearth.com for 21% off* www.yarokhair.com for 15% off  *www.loveindus.com for 21% off ...

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jan 2, 2026

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Send us Fan Mail A teenage girl crosses a border for a chance at life—and loses it to a mistake so basic it should have been impossible. We dive into the case of Jesica Santillán, the 17-year-old who received an incompatible heart-lung transplant, and trace how a single missed safeguard exposed cracks across donor services, hospital protocols, and communication chains. This isn’t a story about rare complications or experimental risk; it’s about the simplest check in medicine—blood type matchi...

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Ep 47-Fatal Mismatch: A Transplant Tragedy

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