First successful human-human blood transfusion

The first human-human blood transfusion deemed to have been successful was conducted on a male patient known only as "Brazier", who was reportedly close to death, by physician James Blundell (UK) in London, UK, on 26 September 1818.

Earlier that year in February 1818, Blundell had reflected on the fate of some of his patients, dying from blood loss. Building on the work of others such as John Leacock and Edward Doubleday, he had already conducted a number of successful experiments by giving blood transfusions between dogs. Blundell therefore hypothesized that a patient’s vessels might be "replenished" with the blood of their husbands through a lifeforce known as "vitalism". In September that year, he got the opportunity to put his ideas into practice. But, considering Blundell’s profession, surprisingly the first human-human blood recipient was a man. Brazier was described as emaciated, vomiting and dehydrated and essentially "at the point of death", so having nothing to lose, agreed to be the first recipient of human blood.

The donor or possibly donors (they are described as "some gentlemen") was/were bled into a cup. Blundell picked up the blood using a warmed syringe, and injected it into the recipient. Although the patient did not seem to recover immediately, "4-6 hours later" Blundell noticed he became pinker and his pulse was stronger. The next day, he was well enough to drink half a pint of porter. However, the success of the procedure was limited as he went on to die 56 hours after the operation; nevertheless, the operation is still seen as a turning point in the history of blood transfusions that demonstrated their lifesaving potential.

Blundell would go on to perform the operation on the patients he originally designed it for – women suffering from blood loss in childbirth. He had no notion of blood types, however, and as a result the effectiveness was hit and miss. But there would be "no hope for the patient," anyway he reported, "unless blood can be thrown into the veins".

This followed in the wake of the first animal-human blood transfusion (xenotransfusion), which took place in France on 15 June 1667: the French surgeon Jean-Baptiste Denis (personal physician to King Louis XIV) transferred blood from a lamb into the arm of a 15-year-old boy suffering with a high fever and is said to have gone on to make a full recovery. However, the practice of xenotransfusion sparked a lot of controversy in society, for both scientific and religious/ethical reasons.