From reading the NPR article, it doesn’t sound like the surgical team started the procedure. They aborted before making any incisions, which is what they should have done. The Guardian headline is a touch sensationalist.

What’s horrifying is how they got all the way to the operating room before recognizing that the patient wasn’t brain dead.

Presumably not, since the repurposed cells won’t have the same surface antigens that the immune system targets for destruction.