The first person to have a pig kidney transplant has died nearly two months after the procedure.

Richard “Rick” Slayman, 62, underwent the four-hour transplant at a hospital in Boston in March.

It marked the first time a genetically modified pig kidney was transplanted into a living patient. Surgeons said they believed the organ would last for at least two years.

Slayman’s family announced his death yesterday, thanking the doctors who carried out the world-first surgery for their “enormous efforts”.

They said the animal-to-human transplant – known as a xenotransplant – gave them “seven more weeks with Rick, and our memories made during that time will remain in our minds and hearts”.

The transplant team at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) said they did not have any indication he died as a result of the transplant.

Slayman, from Weymouth, Massachusetts, previously had a kidney transplant at MGH in 2018, but had to go back on dialysis last year after it showed signs of failure.

As he needed frequent procedures as a result of dialysis complications, his doctors suggested a pig kidney transplant.

His family said Slayman wanted to undergo the procedure to give hope to those on waiting lists for transplants, adding: “Rick accomplished that goal and his hope and optimism will endure forever.”

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Pig kidneys had previously been transplanted into brain-dead donors, but only temporarily. Two men have also received hearts from pigs, with both dying within months of their prodecures.

A month after Slayman’s transplant, New Jersey’s Lisa Pisano became the second person in the world to undergo a pig kidney transplant, and the first to have surgery while also having a mechanical heart pump surgically implanted.

The 54-year-old said she “took a chance” after suffering heart and kidney failure, which left her too ill to qualify for a traditional transplant.

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More than 100,000 people are on the transplant waiting list in the US – most need a kidney, but thousands die waiting.

In the UK, the NHS said that in the year to March last year, there were 6,959 patients waiting for an organ transplant.

It said 439 patients died while on the active list waiting for it and a further 732 were removed from the transplant list, “mostly as a result of deteriorating health and ineligibility for transplant”.

Oprah Winfrey has admitted playing a role in perpetuating diet culture during her career and said a dieting item from a 1980s show was one of her “biggest regrets”.

The 70-year-old star – who has been ranked among the most influential women in the world – has been open about her struggles to maintain a healthy weight and attempts to lose weight.

In March she said “making fun of my weight was a national sport” for more than two decades.

In comments reported by NBC, Sky’s US partner, the talk show host told a livestream and live audience: “I want to acknowledge that I have been a steadfast participant in this diet culture through my platforms, through the magazine, through the talk show for 25 years.

“I’ve been a major contributor to it. I cannot tell you how many weight loss shows and makeovers I have done and they have been a staple since I’ve been working in television.”

But she admitted an item on a 1988 edition of The Oprah Winfrey Show was one of her “biggest regrets” when she rolled a wagon of fat on to the stage to represent the weight she had recently lost thanks to a liquid diet and exercise.

She had starved herself for months, she said, admitting that it “sent a message that starving yourself with a liquid diet and set a standard for people watching that I, nor anybody else, could uphold. The very next day, I began to gain the weight back.

“I own what I’ve done, and now I want to do better.”

Winfrey was speaking on Thursday at an event organised by WeightWatchers, whose board of directors she joined in 2015, before saying in February she was leaving.

In 2016, she used an interview in the magazine O to reveal she had lost 12kg, sharing the cover with nine other woman to celebrate their “best body”.

In the issue, Winfrey said, “It was my idea to share the cover with other women who are on the same journey that I am. My own struggles with the scale are well known. I’ve never believed in hiding them.”

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In December, she told People she had started taking a weight loss drug, saying she used it “as I feel I need it, as a tool to manage not yo-yoing.

“The fact that there’s a medically approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier, in my lifetime, feels like relief, like redemption, like a gift, and not something to hide behind and once again be ridiculed for.”

Israel has probably broken international law – that’s the conclusion of a US State Department report that is both damning yet cautiously equivocal too.

The report, released late last night, is highly critical of Israel, but will also be seen as intentionally non-committal by its critics.

Eagerly anticipated – it was due on Wednesday – the report was written by the US State Department for the US Congress as part of an audit determining how US-supplied weapons overseas are being used.

It concludes that it is “reasonable to assess” that some of Israel’s actions in Gaza have been “inconsistent with its international humanitarian law obligations”.

That is a significant admission by the US government.

But in a feat of legal and verbal gymnastics, the same report also concludes that Israel has not broken the terms for its use of US weapons.

The report is officially called a National Security Memorandum (NSM).

NSMs are published periodically to determine whether countries to whom America provides weapons have broken the terms for use of those weapons.

In other words, they determine whether weapons are being used in accordance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL).

Given the accusations against Israel over Gaza, this report is particularly pertinent.

Remember that a significant proportion of the weapons being used by Israel in Gaza are provided by the US.

The key passages:

• “The nature of the conflict in Gaza makes it difficult to assess or reach conclusive findings on individual incidents. Nevertheless, given Israel’s significant reliance on US-made defence articles [weapons], it is reasonable to assess that defence articles covered under NSM-20 have been used by Israeli security forces since 7 October in instances inconsistent with its IHL obligations or with established best practices for mitigating civilian harm.”

• “While Israel has the knowledge, experience, and tools to implement best practices for mitigating civilian harm in its military operations, the results on the ground, including high levels of civilian casualties, raise substantial questions as to whether the IDF is using them effectively in all cases.”

• “While the US has had deep concerns during the period since 7 October about action and inaction by Israel that contributed significantly to a lack of sustained and predictable delivery of needed assistance at scale, and the overall level reaching Palestinian civilians – while improved – remains insufficient, we do not currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of US humanitarian assistance…”

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The question then is how the US government can conclude that Israel had not violated the terms of the weapons transfer agreement, given that it has concluded that it is “reasonable to assess” that some of Israel’s actions in Gaza have been “inconsistent” with international law?

The US government is hiding behind the fog of war, claiming that they have not assessed any specific case where there has been a clear violation of international humanitarian law.

They have repeatedly told us that they have concerns and that they have opened inquiries with the Israeli government, but that not all the information has been provided.

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The incomplete nature of the investigations into their concerns and the lack of any definitive legal conclusion to the incidents, allows the US government to fall short of concluding that the terms of the weapons deal with Israel have been broken.

US officials also argue that an individual incident or violation by itself does not determine a country’s overall compliance with international humanitarian law.

The report also concludes that US does “not currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of US humanitarian assistance”.

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That assessment is already out of date given the closure, by Israel, of both the Rafah and Karem Shalom crossings in southern Gaza preventing all aid from crossing into the strip.

Aid agencies had already criticised the delay of the report’s release, with accusations that it was softened to avoid having to conclude that Israel had violated the weapons deal.

With its release, eventually coming at 5pm Washington time on a Friday, the White House was accused of trying to bury unhelpful news; something a spokesperson denied.