Marius Barnard (surgeon)

Marius Barnard is a South African cardiac surgeon and inventor of critical illness insurance.[1]

Barnard was a member of the team headed by his brother Christiaan Barnard that performed the world's first human-to-human heart transplantation in 1967.[2] In specific, he was one of the surgeons who removed the heart from donor Denise Darvall at Groote Schuur Hospital.[3][4] After a 2009 documentary film Hidden Heart suggested that Hamilton Naki removed the donor heart, Barnard was quoted as describing the film as "rubbish, a joke, it’s a total distortion of the facts"[5] and as stating that Naki was at the time "in his bed, about 8 km away from Groote Schuur".[6]

Barnard was motivated by the financial hardship he saw his patients suffer after he had treated their critical illnesses to convince the South African insurance companies to introduce a new type of insurance to cover critical illnesses. Barnard argued that, as a medical doctor, he can repair a man physically, but only insurers can repair a patient's finances.[7] On 6 October 1983 the first critical illness insurance policy was launched.[8]

Marius Barnard was a member of the South African parliament between 1980 and 1989, for the Progressive Federal Party - one of the few political parties that opposed apartheid. He is currently semi-retired, acting as a technical consultant for Scottish Widows.[9] Barnard has received many awards for his contributions to medicine and humanity, and was voted in the top 25 most influential people in the field of health insurance and protection.[10]

References

  1. ^ "Heart to Heart", CoverTen (Incisive Financial Publishing): 11–12, 29, 10 October 2007, http://db.riskwaters.com/data/cover/pdf/cover_supp_1007.pdf 
  2. ^ "Heart to Heart", CoverTen (Incisive Financial Publishing): 29, 10 October 2007, http://db.riskwaters.com/data/cover/pdf/cover_supp_1007.pdf 
  3. ^ "Hamilton Naki. Apartheid's shadow. How an inspiring life became distorted by politics", The Economist, 14 July 2005, http://www.economist.com/node/4174683, retrieved 14 August 2010 
  4. ^ "Department of error", Lancet 366: 548, 13 August 2005, http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(05)67097-3/fulltext, retrieved 14 August 2010 
  5. ^ Berger, Sebastien (4 June 2009), "Inspiring tale dismissed as 'rubbish'", The National (Abu Dhabi), http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090605/FOREIGN/706049903/1002, retrieved 14 August 2010 
  6. ^ October, Alicestine (2 June 2009), "Dokkie 'verdraai' Barnard-verhaal", Die Burger, http://jv.dieburger.com//Stories/News/19.0.1592315495.aspx, retrieved 14 August 2010 
  7. ^ HEALTH INSURANCE, 1996, p. 78, http://oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/reports/financial_products/oft168.pdf 
  8. ^ Critical Illness Insurance: Past, present and future, April 2004, http://www.actuaries.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/31320/Barnard.pdf 
  9. ^ "Heart to Heart", CoverTen (Incisive Financial Publishing): 29, 10 October 2007, http://db.riskwaters.com/data/cover/pdf/cover_supp_1007.pdf 
  10. ^ "Heart to Heart", CoverTen (Incisive Financial Publishing): 27, 29, 10 October 2007, http://db.riskwaters.com/data/cover/pdf/cover_supp_1007.pdf