Show notes
Dr. Leonard L. Bailey is the Chairman of the
Department of Surgery at Loma Linda University and Medical Center
and a heart transplant pioneer. Bailey is a daring and skilled
surgeon who implanted the heart of a baboon into an infant known
as Baby Fae, who lived 21 days after the revolutionary surgery.
The operation in 1987 created an international controversy and
brought about a new era in heart transplantation. Bailey pressed
on with research to fulfill the centuries-old dream of overcoming
the species barrier, placing animal organs in humans. He then
found that a small but significant number of infant hearts are
available for babies with fatal birth defects, which can be
transplanted, even at birth. This has touched off a separate
ethical debate with his use of hearts from anencephalic babies
(those born with rudimentary brains or none at all). He has also
performed a number of other prominent heart transplantations
including Baby Moses and Baby Eve. Baby Moses is the oldest
living infant heart transplant recipient. Bailey is heralded as
the leading expert in infant heart transplants in the world. He
addressed the student delegates at the 1988 Achievement Summit a
few months after his trail-blazing operation on Baby
Fae.



