Virginia’s first heart transplant involved heart of Black man taken without family’s consent

DINWIDDIE COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- The first heart transplant ever performed in Virginia involved the heart of a local Black man that was taken without his family’s consent. On Friday, a historical highway marker honoring his life and the lasting impact this transplant had on healthcare and consent was unveiled in Dinwiddie County.

On Friday, May 30, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health hosted a private ceremony for the unveiling of a new historical highway marker in the Stony Creek area of Dinwiddie County.

This marker was placed in honor of Bruce Oliver Tucker, a Stony Creek native who was born in 1913 and died in 1968. According to VCU Health, he sits at the center of a significant -- yet highly controversial -- medical milestone.

The historical marker for Bruce Oliver Tucker, located in the Stony Creek area of Dinwiddie County. (Photo: VCU Health)

The story of his death and what followed is detailed on the marker, which reads as follows:

"Bruce Tucker, an African American man and oldest son of Spencer and Emma Tucker, grew up near here and is buried at Little Bethel Church. On 24 May 1968, Tucker suffered a head injury from a fall. Physicians at the Medical College of VA (later VCU Health) declared him dead on 25 May. Without the consent or knowledge of Tucker’s family, surgeons removed his heart and kidneys with a medical examiner’s permission and placed his heart into a white man in VA’s first, and the world’s 16th, cardiac transplant. Tucker’s brother William filed a wrongful-death lawsuit; the jury, instructed to consider the concept of brain death despite its absence from the Code of VA, found for the defendants in 1972."

VCU Health said this marker serves as a reminder of Tucker's role in conversations surrounding patients' rights and medical ethics.

Members of Tucker's family were present at the ceremony.

"The marker now serves as a public reminder of the importance of informed consent and transparency in health care,” Gayle Turner, a representative for the Tucker family, told VCU Health. “It also serves as a permanent acknowledgement and memorial tribute to the life and legacy of our beloved Bruce Oliver Tucker and the impact his story continues to have on medicine and ethics today."

Unveiling of the historical marker for Bruce Oliver Tucker, located in the Stony Creek area of Dinwiddie County. (Photo: VCU Health)

Unveiling of the historical marker for Bruce Oliver Tucker, located in the Stony Creek area of Dinwiddie County. (Photo: VCU Health)

This is just one of several ways through which VCU Health says it is attempting to recognize Tucker. Other memorializations include a mural and auditorium, a healing garden, multiple commemorative plaques, scholarships established in his name and more.