Transplants: Why Blaiberg Died

Dr. Christiaan Barnard's—and the world's—first patient to receive a transplanted human heart, Louis Washkansky, lived for only 18 days after his historic operation. But Barnard's second transplant recipient, Dentist Philip Blaiberg, recovered fully, wrote a book about his experiences and displayed such a zest for life that he went swimming on the first anniversary of his operation. Last week, after surviving for an incredible 594 days with another man's heart in his chest—longer by far than any other heart transplant patient—Blaiberg died peacefully in the same Cape Town hospital at which...