Episode details

World Service,13 Jan 2013,14 mins

Baby Fae and the baboon's heart

Witness History

Available for over a year

In 1984 doctors in California tried to save a baby girl's life by giving her a heart transplant. Unable to find an infant human donor, they used the heart of a baboon. Dr Leonard Bailey, who led the transplant team, and nurse Marie Hodgkins, talk about their attempts to save Baby Fae. Photo: Baby Fae in the isolation unit listening to her mother's voice a few days after her operation. Courtesy of Loma Linda University Medical Center.

Programme Website
More episodes