Baby Fae and the Media: How the Law Allows Appropriate Access

On October 26, 1984, Baby Fae re-ceived a transplanted baboon heart to replace her own severely defective one. The IRB at Loma Linda University Medical Center in California approved this experimental procedure. In the aftermath of the operation, all involved, including the IRB and its members, were subjected to such intense media coverage that Dr. Richard Sheldon, the chairman of the Loma Linda IRB, ultimately argued that IRB membership "should be semi-anonymous; that is, known to the officials of the Office of Protection from Research Risks and the home institution, but off limits to the press."