Philip Blaiberg

Philip Blaiberg (24 May 1909 – 17 August 1969) was a South African dentist and the third person to receive a heart transplant. On 2 January 1968, in Cape Town, Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the third heart transplant in the world on the 59 year old Blaiberg (Dr. Adrian Kantrowitz performed the world's second heart transplant, on a baby in the US, three days after Dr. Barnard performed the first). Blaiberg survived the operation, and continued with his life for 19 months and 15 days before dying from heart complications on 17 August 1969. The success of Blaiberg's heart transplant furthered the progress made in regard to heart transplantation.

Biography Blaiberg was born in the small town of Uniondale in the Cape Colony, later the Cape Province. After completing his dentistry studies in London, Blaiberg returned to Cape Town and opened up his dentistry practice. In World War II, Blaiberg joined the South African Army Medical Corps and served in the dental unit in Ethiopia and Italy. With the transplanted heart from Denise Darvall, a victim of a road accident, Washkansky was able to survive the operation and lived for 18 days before dying of pneumonia. Blaiberg received the heart from 24-year-old Clive Haupt, a coloured man who had collapsed on a Cape Town beach the day before. That the identity of the heart donor had been released led to much heated controversy in South Africa. In the times of the apartheid, there was heated debate about the racism that existed in the country. Some even went on to say:

Blaiberg had a smooth recovery after the successful heart transplant. Days after his operation, he was in good spirits, and had had no serious complications. The team of doctors led by Barnard were able to treat him for minor problems that occurred, and the doctors reduced his dosage of immunosuppressive drugs. Less than three months after the heart transplant operation, he was able to drive his car.

In June 1968, Blaiberg contracted hepatitis while undergoing routine tests in South Africa's Groote Schuur Hospital. Emergency treatment kept him alive, but Blaiberg suffered some long-term complications from the transplant. He died of chronic organ rejection on 17 August 1969,

He was the only one in first eight heart-transplant patients who survived a remarkable time (19 months). The success of Blaiberg's transplant led to an immediate increase in the number of doctors performing heart transplants globally. By the end of August 1968, 34 heart transplants had been performed, and by December 1968, 100 hearts had been transplanted into 98 patients.