This Day in History: First Human Heart Transplant

This Day in History: , First Human
Heart Transplant.
December 3, 1967.
Louis Washkansky, 53, received the
first human heart transplant at
Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa.
He received the transplant from
Denise Darvall, a 25-year-old woman
who was fatally injured in a car accident.
Surgeon Christiaan Barnard performed
the revolutionary medical operation.
Tragically, the anti-rejection
drugs given to Washkansky
caused him to contract
double pneumonia.
He died 18 days later.
By the 1970s, many
of Barnard's transplant
patients were living up to
five years with their new hearts