Surgical pioneer DeBakey dies
From Times Wire Reports
Dr. Michael DeBakey, the world-famous cardiovascular surgeon who pioneered such now-common procedures as bypass surgery and invented a host of devices to help heart patients, died at a hospital in Houston, officials announced. He was 99.
DeBakey died from natural causes, according to a written statement issued early today by spokesmen for Baylor College of Medicine and The Methodist Hospital.
DeBakey underwent surgery in February 2006 for a damaged aorta -- a procedure he had developed.
The surgical procedures he developed once were the wonders of the medical world. Today, they are commonplace procedures in most hospitals.
