Christiaan Barnard: his first transplants and their impact on concepts of death

The operations and my minor involvement

On 3 December 1967 the heart of a young female accident victim was transplanted into a middle aged man suffering from intractable heart failure caused by coronary artery disease. He died 18 days later from extensive bilateral pneumonia. This limited success was hailed throughout the world as a major medical triumph, turned Barnard into an international superstar, and provided the impetus for him to try it again.

His second subject, Dr Philip Blaiberg, was given a heart transplant less than two weeks later, which brings me to the very minor role I played in the whole saga. The “donor,” a young man who had had a severe subarachnoid haemorrhage while bathing in the sea, was admitted under my care. He was, in fact, the last patient I was permitted to admit to Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town. A government banning order (under the blanket “Suppression of Communism Act”) included a clause that stopped me from teaching or entering any educational institution. This came into effect next morning.

On my …