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

“Mack Jones, the owner and mortician, apologetically informed William that while preparing the body for burial he noticed something bizarre: Bruce was missing his heart—and his kidneys.”

No one at the hospital informed William Tucker that Bruce’s organs had been removed and donated. The author highlights MCV’s poor treatment of Bruce’s family. The lack of transparency may have stemmed from MCV’s realization that it had violated the law in taking Bruce’s organs without his family’s consent.

“Richmond became a popular place for aspiring white physicians to live, but it was a terrible place for their potential dissection subjects to die. Grueling, physically demanding jobs often led to early death through exhaustion or accidents.”

Referring to the antebellum era, Jones describes the history of racism in US medical schools, referring to the theme of Medical Racism. The corpses of enslaved people and, later, free Black people were most commonly used in the training of white physicians. MCV advertised its ready supply of cadavers in its medical school brochure.

“Neither frostbite nor riots nor even the threat of arrest and jail could keep ambitious medical students from plundering the most vulnerable graveyards.”

Despite laws prohibiting grave robbery, medical students and those employed at medical schools still did it. Jones notes that the medical community commanded respect and oversight was therefore poor, underscoring the theme of Legal Oversight of Medical Practice. Wealthy citizens were buried close to churches, and such graves were secured. The graveyards of African Americans and destitute whites were most frequently raided.