Christiaan Barnard: Pioneering Cardiac Surgeon and Advocate for Change
Early Life and Medical Career
Christiaan Barnard, born on November 8, 1922, in Beaufort West, Cape Province, South Africa, was a renowned cardiac surgeon whose groundbreaking work changed the field of medicine. Barnard pursued medical studies and practiced in his native South Africa. Tragically, one of his four brothers, Abraham, died of a heart defect at the age of three. This early personal loss inspired Barnard to innovate in the field of surgery. As a young doctor, he developed a technique to address intestinal atresia in infants, saving the lives of ten babies in Cape Town. His method was later adopted by surgeons in Britain and the United States.
In 1955, Barnard traveled to the United States for further training under Owen Harding Wangensteen at the University of Minnesota. There, he was introduced to the heart-lung machine and subsequently transferred to the service of open-heart surgery pioneer Walt Lillehei. Returning to South Africa in 1958, Barnard led the Experimental Surgery Department at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town.
Groundbreaking Surgery and Later Career
Barnard performed the world’s first human-to-human heart transplant on December 3, 1967. He successfully transplanted Denise Darvall’s heart into 54-year-old Louis Washkansky. Despite the groundbreaking nature of the surgery, Washkansky’s immune system, heavily suppressed by anti-rejection drugs, led to pneumonia and his death eighteen days later. Barnard’s assertion of an 80% success rate for the procedure has been criticized as misleading. However, Barnard’s second transplant patient, Philip Blaiberg, lived for a year and a half post-surgery.
Barnard’s career as a surgeon ended in 1983 due to rheumatoid arthritis in his hands. He retired as chairman of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery in Cape Town. In 1986, he began focusing on anti-aging research and promoted Glycel, an expensive skin lotion. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s withdrawal of its clearance damaged his reputation. In his later years, Barnard founded the Christiaan Barnard Foundation to assist disadvantaged children worldwide. He passed away on September 2, 2001, from an asthma attack at the age of 78.
Views on Apartheid
Barnard was a vocal critic of South Africa’s apartheid laws and was not afraid to challenge the government. To travel abroad, he had to temper his criticisms somewhat, but he used his fame to advocate for legal reform. Before a trip to Kenya in 1978, Barnard expressed his views on racial relations in South Africa: “While he believes in the participation of Africans in the political process, he opposes a one-man-one-vote system. He supports the abolition of social discrimination but accepts continued political discrimination.”
Foundation and Legacy
Barnard established the Christiaan Barnard Foundation, dedicated to improving the lives of underprivileged children around the globe. His pioneering work in cardiac surgery and his efforts to address social issues have left a lasting impact on both medicine and society.
- Books
- Barnard wrote two autobiographies
- His first book, One Life, was published in 1969
- The Second Life, was published in 1993,
- Apart from his autobiographies, Barnard wrote books including:
- The Donor
- Your Healthy Heart
- In the Night Season
- The Best Medicine
- Arthritis Handbook: How to Live With Arthritis
- Good Life Good Death: A Doctor’s Case for Euthanasia and Suicide
- South Africa: Sharp Dissection
- 50 Ways to a Healthy Heart
- Body Machine
