Dr. Charles P. Bailey; Pioneer in Heart Surgery

Dr. Charles P. Bailey, pioneer thoracic surgeon who developed key techniques for treating heart problems, has died. He was 82.

Bailey died Wednesday of prostate cancer in Marietta, Ga.

Houston heart surgeon Denton A. Cooley said Bailey “could well be considered as the father of direct heart surgery, having demonstrated that the human heart could withstand manipulations which were previously considered impossible.”

Bailey achieved professional and public fame in 1948 when he repaired the mitral valve of a 24-year-old woman who had been expected to live only six months. She lived for 38 years, and his procedure became the standard for repairing mitral valves until heart-lung machines and open-heart surgery were developed.

He was also the first U.S. physician to repair a hole in the wall between the two sides of the heart.

Born in Wanamassa, N.J., Bailey was educated at Rutgers University, Hahnemann Medical College, and the University of Pennsylvania. He headed surgery departments at Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia, Deborah Heart and Lung Center in Browns Mills, N.J., and New York Medical College and Flower-Fifth Avenue Hospitals.

In 1955 he wrote the book “Surgery of the Heart.”

Bailey later studied law and became a consultant to law firms and insurance companies.

Bailey is survived by his wife of more than 50 years, Lillian, three children, and five grandchildren.