1967: Reflections on the first human heart transplant and its impact on medicine, media and society

摘要

The year 2017 marks the 50~(th) anniversary of the first human heart transplant, performed by Dr Christiaan Barnard in Cape Town, South Africa, on 3 December 1967. This essay explores how the media shaped the meaning of this surgical feat by blending the story itself with extraneous elements such as ethics and politics. I will show how the intense media interest that surrounded Barnard's first and second heart transplants transformed the key characters in this event and ultimately changed relationships between medicine, media and society. Having achieved an extraordinary world-first during a troubled time in South Africa, Barnard has earned his place in South African history. He remained an iconic public figure until his death in 2001, and his legacy lives on in Cape Town in the Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital and the 'Heart of Cape Town' museum inside the walls of Groote Schuur Hospital.