Dorothy Fischer becomes the first South African woman to undergo a heart transplant

Updated: 30 Sep 2019

40 year-old Dorothy Fisher was given a new heart in 1969 and became the longest surviving patient. She lived for 12 years afterwards. She was South Africa's fifth heart transplant recipient and the first woman to undergo such an operation. When she died twelve and a half years later, Dr Chris Barnard, who with his team operated on her, conceded that she had died of "chronic rejection" of her transplanted heart. Only in the middle 1980s did researchers develop cyclosporin, an anti-rejection drug that is still used. Barnard was fond of Fisher. She was living proof that, despite foreign tissue rejection, heart transplants did work. Barnard said: "She lived her larger-than-life existence for more than 12 years, a woman in love with life and unafraid."

How we know this

01Wallis, F. (2000). Nuusdagboek: feite en fratse oor 1000 jaar, Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau.

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Dorothy Fischer becomes the first South African woman to undergo a heart transplant. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012117

South African History Online (2011) 'Dorothy Fischer becomes the first South African woman to undergo a heart transplant', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012117 (Accessed: 7 November 2026).

South African History Online, Dorothy Fischer becomes the first South African woman to undergo a heart transplant [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012117, (accessed 7 November 2026).

"Dorothy Fischer becomes the first South African woman to undergo a heart transplant." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012117. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

South African History Online. "Dorothy Fischer becomes the first South African woman to undergo a heart transplant." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012117.