Perhaps I'm nitpicking, but what Cheney got was an implant, not a transplant

[emilyg]

9. info - things have changed

The New Transplant Patient
Older, sicker patients are becoming eligible for organ transplantation, increasing the need for organs and raising new questions about who should get priority on waiting lists.
By Kate Ledger
Ardell Lien of Caledonia, Minnesota, had a history of heart trouble that started with atrial fibrillation when he was in his 30s; but nothing prepared him for the devastation of congestive heart failure that hit hard a few decades later. The golf-playing, globetrotting father of three, who’d once lived on a boat with his wife, Maureen, could barely walk or take a shower without experiencing extreme fatigue by the time he’d reached his 60s.

Lien’s family and friends encouraged him to go to Mayo Clinic for further evaluation, and there, Lien was surprised to learn that hope still existed. His doctor, Brooks Edwards, M.D., thought Lien would be a good candidate for a heart transplant. “I never thought I’d be eligible for that kind of surgery at age 67,” Lien says. What’s more, Lien remained a candidate even as his kidneys began to fail while he was waiting for a new heart