James BlundellBorn 27 Dec 1790; died 15 Jan 1878 at age 87.English obstetrician and medical researcher who researched in the technique of blood transfusion, and was the first in Great Bitain to perform the procedure using human blood (rather than animal blood) on 26 Sep 1818 at Guy's Hospital, London. He used an apparatus of his his own design to collect and transfer the blood. His patient, who had an incurable disease, was anxious to try a blood transfusion from human donors. Although there seemed initial signs of benefit, he survived only another 56 hours. In the years that followed, his technique eventually led to saving lives, despite failures until the significance of matching blood types known after 1900.« |
