Pioneers of Cardiac Surgery

James D. Hardy, MD

446 Pioneers of Cardiac Surgery James D. Hardy, MD (b. 1918) We worried most about the ethical questions, of course, because obviously after all of those years, I didn’t want to look like a screwball that was willing to do anything, although I’m sure that most people thought I was. — On the heart transplant operation using a chimpanzee heart Interviewed August 10, 1999 I was born in 1918 in Birmingham, Alabama , but I grew up in a little town called Newala, Alabama. My father actually named the town when he went there. He named it “New” for New York (his hometown) and “ala” for Alabama. So it was Newala. My father manufactured lime calcium oxide, using the very pure strain of limestone that ran through Shelby County. Newala was close to Montebello, about thirty miles south of Birmingham . My mother happened to deliver me in Birmingham because our family physician decided she was too large to have a normal delivery, and, to the surprise of all, she had twins; I was named James and my twin was Julian. Before she married, my mother’s name was Julia Ann Pointer, and she taught Latin at a college in Montebello, where my father met her. There were five boys and two girls in my family, but, unfortunately, only two of us remain. The lime powder was used in construction , farming, and water purification. Construction was the main use; the lime was used to make cement. During the Depression , my father’s business had some hard times. At the lowest point, our enterprise was advertised in the county newspaper for nonpayment of taxes, but as children we didn’t really know how bad things were. I have always admired my father enormously for the fact that he didn’t believe in having his children worry. He didn’t mention his financial problems and never complained, but spending money was extremely limited. That experience convinced all of us boys that we didn’t want to be in the lime business when the Depression was over. I was considering farming. I played tennis with some older friends (they beat me consistently, of course) who were premed students at the University of Alabama. They urged Julian and me to take premed, and, since we had nothing else in mind, we took their advice, but then they dropped out of premed. One of them became a physicist and the other was a full colonel in the army after World War II. Julian and I went on and finished in medicine. He practiced ob-gyn in Birmingham, and I went elsewhere. I was interested in music and had a dance band. There had always been music in the family; my mother came from a family where the girls were all expected to learn to play the piano, to sew somewhat, and to cook somewhat . She played the piano most days and played at church if necessary. The one thing we did have at our high school was music. Ms. Selinsky came from Chicago; she was of Polish extraction, and she could play several of the instruments in the little band in our junior high school. I played the clarinet at first, but when a dance orchestra was orga- Transplant—Artificial Heart 447 nized, I changed instruments, because I saw a chance to make a little money. My younger brother Taylor played trumpet in the band, and my twin Julian played the saxophone. I went to Birmingham and bought a trombone for $20 in a pawnshop. I learned to play the trombone with Mother striking the notes on the piano. The University of Alabama was a landgrant college, so every able-bodied male had to take military training or physical education . Of course, the ones who took physical education were sort of looked down on, so almost everybody, including myself, took the military. One day I was out there with a rifle, and the army captain who was drilling our company said he had an announcement to make. He asked if anybody wanted to swap his rifle for a musical instrument, because they needed instruments in the band. He said it very sarcastically, as if to say, “Who would stoop so low?” but I held up my hand. I was thoroughly familiar with weapons, as we grew up with them, and I didn’t need any further instruction. I volunteered to play the trombone, and I played it right on through college. When I was in medical...