This Day in History: First Human Heart Transplant (Saturday, December 3rd)

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