Leonard Lee Bailey

{{short description|American surgeon (1942–2019)}}

{{Infobox medical person

| image =

| caption =

| birth_name = Leonard Lee Bailey

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1942|08|28|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Takoma Park, Maryland, United States

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2019|05|12|1942|08|28}}

| death_place = Redlands, California, United States

| profession = Surgeon

| specialism = Cardiothoracic surgery
Heart transplantation

| research_field =

| known_for = transplanting the heart of a baboon into a dying infant in 1984

| years_active =

| education = Columbia Union College
Loma Linda University

| work_institutions = {{nowrap|Loma Linda University Medical Center}}

| prizes =

}}

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.{{Cite web|url=https://spectrummagazine.org/news/2019/iconic-baby-fae-surgeon-leonard-bailey-dies-age-76|title=Iconic "Baby Fae" Surgeon Leonard Bailey Dies at Age 76|publisher=SPECTRUM|date=May 13, 2019}}

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.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/22/obituaries/dr-leonard-bailey-dead.html|title=Dr. Leonard Bailey, Who Gave a Baby a Baboon's Heart, Dies at 76|last=Grady|first=Denise|date=May 22, 2019|work=The New York Times}}

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.{{Cite web|url=https://news.llu.edu/clinical/iconic-baby-fae-surgeon-bailey-dies-age-76|title=Iconic 'Baby Fae' surgeon Bailey dies at age 76|publisher=Loma Linda University Health|date=May 12, 2019}} 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."{{cite book |last=Pence |first=Gregory E. |author-link=Gregory Pence |year=2008 |title=Classic Cases in Medical Ethics |edition=5th |url=http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~bwrobert/teaching/mm/articles/Pence2004_Ch14.pdf |accessdate=May 28, 2013 |archive-date=April 18, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418213419/http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~bwrobert/teaching/mm/articles/Pence2004_Ch14.pdf |url-status=dead }}

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.{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url= https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration}}

Bailey became recognized for transplantation and all types of pediatric and infant-open heart surgeries.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/leonard-bailey-transplant-surgeon-who-gave-baby-fae-a-baboon-heart-dies-at-76/2019/05/16/e8f6fd7a-77e5-11e9-b3f5-5673edf2d127_story.html|title=Leonard Bailey, transplant surgeon who gave 'Baby Fae' a baboon heart, dies at 76|last=Langer|first=Emily|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=May 16, 2019}}

Bailey died on May 12, 2019, of neck and throat cancer.{{Cite web|url=https://www.adventistreview.org/church-news/story13673-surgeon-who-transplanted-a-baboons-heart-into-a-human-infant-dead-at-76|title=Surgeon Who Transplanted a Baboon's Heart Into a Human Infant Dead at 76|work=Adventist Review|date=May 13, 2019}}