Emanuel Libman

Biography

• Born August 22, 1872 New York
• 1894 – MD, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University
  
• Died June 28, 1946 New York
  

Key Medical Attributions

Medical Eponyms

• Libman-Sacks endocarditis (1924)
• Libman-Sacks vegetations

Fun Facts

Libman had many famous patients including Gustav Mahler (1860-1911), Fanny Brice (1891-1951), Sara Bernhardt (1844-1923), Thomas Mann (1875-1955) and Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Libman diagnosed the fatal endocarditis of Gustav Mahler on 25th February 1911. Mahler’s personal physician (Joseph Fraenkel) suspected the onset of endocarditis and called in Libman (‘the world authority and a man of monolithic certainties‘) from the Mount Sinai Hospital. The survival rate in pre-antibiotic days was almost zero. Mahler demanded to be told the truth, then asked to be taken home, to Vienna where he died 2 months later.

“To the noble-minded Dr. Libman with the secret-divining eyes.” – Albert Einstein 1954

Major Publications

• Libman E. A Study of the Endocardial Lesions of Subacute Bacterial Endocarditis. American Journal of the Medical Sciences. 1912;144: 313-27.
• Libman E, Celler HL. The Etiology of Subacute Infective Endocarditis. Table. Amer. J. of Med. Sci., 1919;140: 516-27.
• Libman E, Sacks B. A hitherto undescribed form of valvular and mural endocarditis. Arch Intern Med. 1924;33(6): 701–737
• Cardiac arrhythmias. Clinical features & mechanism of the irregular heart. Introduction by Emanuel Libman. New York, Paul B. Hoeber, 1928.
• Libman, E .; Friedberg, C. Subacute Bacterial Endocarditis Oxford University Press, 1941.

References

• Oppenheimer BS. In Memoriam–Emanuel Libman (1872-1946). Bull N Y Acad Med. 1947 Feb; 23(2): 116–117. [PMC1871336]
• Emanuel Libman (1872 – 1946). The Mitral Valve.
• Lebrecht N. Why Mahler?: How One Man and Ten Symphonies Changed the World. 2011 p218-219
• Emanuel Libman (1872-1946). Gustav-Mahler.eu