Transplant of patient’s ‘ticking time bomb’ uncertain after surgeon’s exit
Ashton Riker said doctors told him, ‘You keep having these bleeds, and you’re literally a ticking time bomb. So, you’re gonna have to have a liver transplant.’ It was devastating to hear.” His wife was approved to be a live donor, but the James D. Eason Transplant Institute at Methodist University Hospital has suspended its live donor liver transplantation program. (Ron Wood/Special to The Daily Memphian).
After a high-profile surgeon departed Methodist University Hospital’s Transplant Institute — and the live donor liver program is paused — a Memphis musician’s transplant is caught in the middle.
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James D. Eason Transplant Institute at Methodist University Hospital organ transplant Ashton Riker Dr. James Eason Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare Subscriber OnlyThank you for supporting local journalism.
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Aisling Mäki
Aisling Mäki has spent the better part of two decades writing about Memphis. A former digital journalist for WMC Action News 5 and staff reporter for Memphis Daily News, her work has also appeared in The Commercial Appeal, High Ground News, I Love Memphis, Inside Memphis Business, The Memphis Flyer, Memphis Parent, Memphis Magazine and Tri-State Defender.
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