The surgical intervention to treat obstructions of the heart was created by Dr. René Favaloro in the year 1967. This method revolutionized the surgery, being until today the most practiced in the whole world. Unfortunately, the bypass could not save Favaloro's life, his foundation had a large economic debt and he asked the national government for help, without receiving an answer, which led him to commit suicide. On July 29, 2000, after writing a letter to President De la Rua criticizing the health system, he took his life with a heart shot.
René Gerónimo Favaloro (July 15, 1923 - Buenos Aires, July 29, 2000) was an Argentine educator and heart surgeon, recognized worldwide for being the one who developed coronary bypass with saphenous vein. The first bypass was performed in the arteries of the neck by Argentinean neurosurgeon Alfredo Carrea in 1951, in Buenos Aires. He studied medicine at the National University of La Plata and once received, after passing through the Policlínico Hospital, he moved to the town of Jacinto Aráuz to temporarily replace the local doctor, who had health problems.2 In turn, he read bibliography medical service and began to have an interest in thoracic surgery. In the late 1960s he began to study a technique for using the saphenous vein in coronary surgery. In 1971, he returned to Argentina to operate at the private sanatorium Güemes in the hands of his friend the interventional cardiologist Luis de la Fuente who proposed and convinced him. At the beginning of the 1970s, he founded the foundation that bears his name at the request of Dr. De la Fuente. He was a member of Conadep (National Commission for the Disappearance of Persons), conducted television programs dedicated to medicine and wrote books. During the crisis of 2000, the PAMI had a great economic debt with its foundation, deliberately sustained by a corrupt system, which led him to commit suicide. On July 29, 2000, after writing a letter to President De la Rua criticizing the health system, he took his life with a heart shot. René Favaloro was born and raised in the city of La Plata (capital of the province of Buenos Aires) with his parents Juan Manuel Favaloro-carpenter-and Ida Raffaelli de Favaloro -modista-. He was always committed to knowledge, thanks in part to his maternal grandmother, who conveyed his love for nature and emotion to see when the seeds began to bear fruit. She would dedicate her PhD thesis to her: «To my grandmother Cesárea, who taught me to see beauty even in a poor dry branch». He completed the primary school in school No. 34, in this school a mural was erected in his memory. In 1934 he began his secondary studies at the Rafael Hernández National School; After this stage, he entered the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the National University of La Plata. In the third year he began his internship at the Polyclinic Hospital and began to make contact with patients for the first time. Exceeding the requirements of the program, I returned in the evenings to monitor the evolution of patients and dialogue with them. He also observed the sixth year students of Rodolfo Rossi or Egidio Mazzei, professors of the Medical Clinic, and also attended the surgeries of José María Mainetti and Federico EB Christmann, who taught him the simplification and standardization techniques that he later applied in Cardiovascular surgery, its contribution to the operations of the heart and the great arteries. His professional preparation was carried out in the Policlínico Hospital where complicated cases of the whole province of Buenos Aires were received. He lived in the hospital during the two years of residence. He graduated in 1949 and immediately there was a vacancy for auxiliary doctor, position to which he acceded on an interim basis. Soon his brother, Juan José, also a doctor, began to work in the clinic with him, joining the community very soon.