The passing of a legend: Dr. Michael DeBakey, pioneer of heart procedures, dead at 99

Very few people can truly say they left thier mark on humanity. names like Jonas Salk, Mohandas Gandhi, J. Robert Oppenheimer, et al. to name a few.

Dr. Michael DeBakey was one such man. He basically invented the key component that serves as the literal heart of the heart lung bypass machine. He pionnered Coronary artery bypass surgery, the use of dacron to patch blood vessels. All told he operated on over 60000 patients through the course of his career.

He will be missed.

www2.cnn.com...

Originally posted by FredT
All told he operated on over 60000 patients through the course of his career.

If he had simply informed all those patients that they could avoid heart problems by changing their diet, most of those surgeries would have been unncecessary. But instead, he probably got very rich.

reply to post by annestacey


You have to be around these guys to understand and I have had the fortune to meet (Schumway) and work with (Handly, Reddy) so i have a bit of understanding about what makes them tick. None of these guys are driven by money. They simply are not.

Was he (and those mentioned above) well off? Yep, they were. Were they ultra rich? Nope. Was he compensated for his skill? Probably not nearly enough

These guys lived thier craft. and this doc worked well past the age of a normal retirement.

[edit on 7/13/08 by FredT]

Sounds like he was a decent enough person. But was he completely ignorant of the fact that the modern diet causes heart disease and can be reversed with a healthy organic diet? Or did he know it and ignore it in order to keep the money flowing?

I would venture to say he probably was unaware of the facts because they don't teach preventative maintenance in medical schools. They are taught to treat the symptoms, not eliminate the source of the problem.

Of course, if he had known the truth and attempted to actually heal people, he probably would have been shutdown or run out of the country. Because America is the land of the sick and home of the depraved.

reply to post by annestacey

Sounds like he was a decent enough person. But was he completely ignorant of the fact that the modern diet causes heart disease and can be reversed with a healthy organic diet? Or did he know it and ignore it in order to keep the money flowing?

Get off your high horse. DeBakey saved thousands of lives. He was the go-to man of last resort. I'm pretty sure that he didn't advocate an unhealthy diet of fast food and potato chips just to line his pockets.

It is up to people to moderate their health and diet. If they chose to dine on cheeseburgers, how is that Dr. DeBakey's fault? The truth is that we, as individuals, are responsible for our own actions.

We are just lucky there are dedicated and skilled doctors like DeBakey to help heal us if we didn't take care of ourselves properly to begin with.

I suggest you take your misplaced aggression elsewhere.

Doctors pockets are lined everyday from the pharma companies to push drugs on people who don't need them. And he didn't need to advocate an unhealthy diet... the media does that for him.

And I agree it is up to people to moderate their diet. But that's difficult to do when the unhealthy diets are getting pushed at us with the message that it's good for us and the food industry is loading the food up with toxic junk that causes disease and obesity and then conveniently leaves them off the label or hides them in other ingredients to mislead the public.

It's not a doctors fault if someone chooses to eat bad food. But it's also their responsibility to inform the patient of their options as opposed to simply pushing drugs on them.

What you call a 'high horse' is what I call 'telling the truth'. But maybe you feel people don't need to know the truth.

reply to post by annestacey

It's not a doctors fault if someone chooses to eat bad food. But it's also their responsibility to inform the patient of their options as opposed to simply pushing drugs on them.

Yes, you're absolutely right. Doctors are completely unaware as to their responsibilities to their patients. Things like ethics and integrity are practically non-existent in the medical field. Now, if we could only come up with a set of principles that physicians should adhere to...

We could call it the Hippocratic Oath.

I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.

reply to post by annestacey

What you call a 'high horse' is what I call 'telling the truth'. But maybe you feel people don't need to know the truth.

Also, your little high and mighty rant is a bit disingenuous. To place the blame of unhealthy individuals on the shoulders of doctors, instead of the individual is laughable.

Save your rant on the roles of doctors and pharmaceutical companies for another thread. It has no business here.

For those interested in the remarkable career of Dr. Michael DeBakey.

Originally posted by maria_stardust
To place the blame of unhealthy individuals on the shoulders of doctors, instead of the individual is laughable.

The blame is not only on doctors, but on the food industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the medical industry, the FDA, and big business. They are all getting a piece of the pie and all we get is sickness, bankruptcy and death. Prescription medications kill over 100,000 people a year. The corruption in the medical industry is very well documented. You may be able to convince some people that you are right but not the ones who actually keep themselves informed as to what's really going on behind the lies.

reply to post by annestacey

You are more than entitled to your views.

However, it might be better if you started a separate thread to present your argument, as opposed to hijacking this thread.

You are right and I apologize for taking the topic down another path.