Donald William Bethune

bmj;384/feb09_7/q327/FAF1faDonald William Bethune (“Don”) became a consultant at Papworth in 1969 after training posts at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle and St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London where he met his future wife, Sue.Don was one of the pioneers in the operation and management of life support during open heart surgery where the heart-lung machine was still relatively primitive. It was therefore not surprising that when he was appointed to Papworth it was as the first consultant with a special interest in open heart surgery as well as being responsible for the four bedded intensive care unit and the perfusion service.During his 30 years at Papworth, he was responsible for many advances in cardiothoracic anaesthesia and perfusion technology. Don was particularly interested in improving the quality and safety of perfusion technology in an age when post-pump syndrome was not uncommon and manifested as a constellation of postoperative neurological deficits. In…
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