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 What I've Learned: Michael DeBakey
By Cal Fussman
DeBakey pioneered numerous cardiovascular procedures, including the coronary bypass and the artificial-heart transplant. In 1954, he devised a technique to repair arteries using a Dacron tube he made on his wife's sewing machine. In 2006, he became the oldest survivor of the procedure he invented.
One of the rarest things that we do is think. I don't know why people don't do it more often. It doesn't cost anything. Think about that.
There are questions that I'd like answered. But there aren't any answers to those questions.
If world leaders were doctors, I think they would be more concerned with the welfare of people. There would be less poverty. There would be medical care for everybody, no matter whether people paid for it or not.
In any good society, every member should be interested in the health of every other member. Because if any member is unhealthy, it's a burden on the society. What advice would I give a doctor preparing for surgery? First and foremost, walk into the right operating room. After you've got the right room, make sure you've got the right patient. I've done more than sixty thousand heart operations. I used to start operating at six in the morning. Sometimes I wouldn't finish until ten or eleven at night. I've been fortunate in that I need very little sleep. I can get along well on four or five hours. Okra is the key to good gumbo.
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