Matthew :
Betty Shabazz Begins Undergoing Skin Grafts
Associated Press
Thursday, June 5, 1997; Page A14
The Washington Post
NEW YORK, June 4 -- Three days after Malcolm X's widow nearly died in a fire, surgeons began replacing her charred
tissue with artificial skin today in a procedure that is her only hope of survival.
Betty Shabazz, 61, suffered third-degree burns over 80 percent of her body in the fire early Sunday at her Yonkers
apartment. She was in critical condition at Jacobi Medical Center.
Her 12-year-old grandson is suspected of setting the fire. He has been held for medical and psychological testing pending a
hearing Friday in family court.
Surgeons removed 20 percent of Shabazz's damaged skin and stapled a translucent velvety material called Integra, which
stimulates tissue regeneration, onto the remaining flesh.
Malcolm Shabazz, who had been living with his grandmother for about three weeks, told police he tried to kill her in the hope
he would be reunited with his mother in Texas, the New York Daily News reported today.
c Copyright 1997 The Associated Press |
