In the obituary of Hamilton Naki on June 11, The Associated Press erroneously reported that Naki helped Dr. Christiaan Barnard perform the world's first heart transplant. This was based on AP articles, including comments from Naki and Barnard, on April 4, 1993, and June 20, 2003.
Doctors from the University of Cape Town say this widely reported story of his involvement in the operation has gone uncorrected since 1993 and is not true. In published letters to leading British medical journals, Prof. David Dent, acting dean of the faculty of health sciences at the University of Cape Town, said Naki was a skilled surgical assistant but was not present at the hospital when the world's first heart transplant was performed in 1967.
The university says Naki assisted with the research on animals which lay the groundwork for the transplant. In interviews before Barnard's death, Barnard frequently spoke of Naki's great surgical contribution.
This correction has been widely published. See here. And the New York Times ran an article that looks at how this error became an accepted part of his biography.