There is information on the Internet that billionaire David Rockefeller, who lived to be 101 years old, had a heart transplanted seven times. We have verified the accuracy of such publications.
The media writes about Rockefeller’s unique record, for example, “RIA Novosti", "Gazeta.ru", Life, "Utro.ru", and others informational And entertaining resources. Mention of seven heart transplants can be found in posts by social network users (Facebook, X, Instagram) and on blogging platforms (“Peekaboo", "Zen"). There is this information and on portals near-medical topics. The authors of some publications also indicate that Rockefeller first received a heart transplant in 1976, when, at the age of 62, he had an accident and suffered a heart attack, and just two weeks after that he went for a run. Many posts also feature his quote: “Every time I receive a new heart, it’s like a breath of new life. I feel renewed energy and life” (the wording is slightly different, but the meaning remains the same).
David Rockefeller - banker and philanthropist, grandson of John Rockefeller, the first American billionaire and founder of one of the richest and most influential dynasties in the United States. At the time of his death in 2017 at the age of 101, he was the oldest billionaire in the United States, with a net worth of more than $3 billion. Having headed Chase National Bank, one of the largest American banks, for many years, he also led active public activities to promote US interests abroad, met with many leaders of other countries, in particular with Leonid Brezhnev.
If Rockefeller had wanted, he probably could have afforded both donor hearts and heart transplants. However, “Verified” did not find any data on such medical interventions in any authoritative source. This is not mentioned in obituaries or articles about Rockefeller in reputable media outlets such as The New York Times, BBC, The Economist, The Guardian and others, in an article in the encyclopedia Britannica and even in his own memoirs. Of course, one could assume that the banker did not want to advertise his numerous transplants, but in this case he would hardly have called a press conference 36 hours after the operation, which is mentioned in many publications about his sixth heart transplant, and gave interviews. The supposed press conference itself - its broadcast or at least reports about it in reputable media - “Verified” also could not be found.
The earliest discovered "Verified" reference to Rockefeller's multiple heart transplants is publication April 28, 2015 in the World News Daily Report that the 99-year-old billionaire allegedly successfully received a heart transplant for the sixth time. It is there that a common quote is given about how Rockefeller feels after each transplant. The story is also retold about the first allegedly performed heart transplant operation, and about the incredible activity of the billionaire after it.
However, the publication does not claim the reliability of its news. IN description site states: “World News Daily Report takes full responsibility for the satire in its articles and for the fictitious nature of their content. All characters appearing in articles on this site, even those based on real people, are entirely fictitious, and any resemblance between them and any person, living, dead or undead, is simply a miracle.”
A year later, in August 2016, The Usual Routine published a news story note that the billionaire underwent another heart transplant - the seventh. Despite the fact that the site does not directly indicate that the news is satirical in nature, the publication clearly does not claim high standards of journalism. Here, for example, are a few of the headlines that came out around the same time as the Rockefeller bombshell: “Researchers Find Yawning May Tell You If You're a Psychopath,” “How to Recognize a Heart Attack a Month Before It Happens,” and “Frankincense Proved to be a Psychoactive Antidepressant.” The news about the billionaire is right there picked up AnonHQ portal, positioning itself as the headquarters of a hacker group Anonymous. The website published a note about the billionaire's record, which added a remark that transplanting hearts to people over 70 years of age is considered inappropriate in medical practice, and also that more than 120,000 patients are waiting for a suitable donor organ, while 101-year-old Rockefeller is already receiving his seventh donor heart. Obviously, promoting the idea of a cruel rich man endlessly prolonging his life at the expense of those less fortunate was more important to the editors than checking the veracity of the information.
101 years is a respectable age, which allows us to suspect any kind of medical intervention. But, firstly, Rockefeller really could afford quality medical care even without organ transplantation. And secondly, he is not the only one from his family who lived to a very old age. For example, his grandfather died at 97, and brother Lawrence - at 94. David, however, set a kind of family record.
Heart transplant is not a miracle way for the rich to extend their life to 100 years. This is a complex surgical operation that is used only in the most extreme cases, since the risks are quite high and the side effects can be life-threatening, even if the operation is successful and the body does not reject the donor organ. Heart transplants, as mentioned in the AnonHQ article, are generally performed for patients under 70 years of age, in rare cases up to 75, as older age may prevent a person from recovering from surgery. It is extremely unlikely that any doctor would undertake to perform a second transplant in a year on a 100-year-old patient who has already had several transplants before - the risk is too great.
Thus, there is no evidence that David Rockefeller underwent even one heart transplant, let alone six or seven. No mention of such transplants could be found in any serious media, in the billionaire’s autobiography or in an interview with him. Information about the six transplants originally appeared on a satirical news site and then spread widely across the Internet. A year later, on another site filled with obviously made-up news, news about a new, seventh transplant appeared, and this time Internet users also began to spread it without checking whether it was true.
Cover photo: Dan Hadani collection / National Library of Israel / The Pritzker Family National Photography Collection, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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