Transplants: Question of Timing

Ever since the first heart transplant last December, the timing of such operations has been a source of much medical dispute. But few transplants are likely to trigger the controversy that surrounded the 17th, performed in Brazil at Sao Paulo's Hospital das Clinicas last week by Heart Surgeon Euriclides de Jesus Zerbini.

Zerbini announced that he had a re ipient, Joao Ferreira da Cunha, four weeks ago. Last week providence provided an unidentified victim of a traffic accident. The prospective donor's eyes were dilated and his breathing was labored—but his heart was...