Leonard Lee Bailey

Leonard Lee Bailey
Born
Leonard Lee Bailey

(1942-08-28)28 August 1942
Takoma Park, Maryland, United States
Died12 May 2019(2019-05-12) (aged 76)
Redlands, California, United States
EducationColumbia Union College
Loma Linda University
Known fortransplanting the heart of a baboon into a dying infant in 1984
Medical career
ProfessionSurgeon
InstitutionsLoma Linda University Medical Center
Sub-specialtiesCardiothoracic surgery
Heart transplantation

Leonard Lee Bailey (1942–2019) was an American surgeon who garnered international media attention in 1984 for transplanting a baboon's heart into a human infant.[1]

Bailey was born on August 28, 1942, in Takoma Park, Maryland. In 1964, he graduated from Columbia Union College, and he earned a medical degree from Loma Linda University, School of Medicine in 1969. During the 1970s, during his residency at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, Bailey observed that many children died from congenital heart diseases. This led him to return to Loma Linda University in 1976 as assistant professor at the School of Medicine. There he performed more than 200 experimental heart transplants on young mammals so he could see if there was the possibility of transplantation in young mammals.[2]

On October 26, 1984, Bailey and his team at Loma Linda University Medical Center transplanted a baboon's heart into Baby Fae, as she became known to the media. Baby Fae died 21 days later, at age 32 days. Her case is still discussed to this day.[3] Though supported by many, the procedure caused a lot of controversy because it was considered unethical. When asked why he had picked a baboon over a primate more closely related to humans in evolution, Bailey replied, "I don't believe in evolution."[4]

In 1988, Bailey received the American Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award presented by Awards Council member Michael DeBakey at a ceremony in Nashville, Tennessee.[5]

Bailey became recognized for transplantation and all types of pediatric and infant-open heart surgeries.[6] Bailey died on May 12, 2019, of neck and throat cancer.[7]

  1. ^ "Iconic "Baby Fae" Surgeon Leonard Bailey Dies at Age 76". SPECTRUM. May 13, 2019.
  2. ^ Grady, Denise (May 22, 2019). "Dr. Leonard Bailey, Who Gave a Baby a Baboon's Heart, Dies at 76". The New York Times.
  3. ^ "Iconic 'Baby Fae' surgeon Bailey dies at age 76". Loma Linda University Health. May 12, 2019.
  4. ^ Pence, Gregory E. (2008). Classic Cases in Medical Ethics (PDF) (5th ed.). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 18, 2016. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  5. ^ "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
  6. ^ Langer, Emily (May 16, 2019). "Leonard Bailey, transplant surgeon who gave 'Baby Fae' a baboon heart, dies at 76". The Washington Post.
  7. ^ "Surgeon Who Transplanted a Baboon's Heart Into a Human Infant Dead at 76". Adventist Review. May 13, 2019.