Word: patiently
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...died quietly. The official cause of death: "circulatory collapse due to multiorgan system failure." The heart itself was in good working order at his death, having beat steadfastly nearly 13 million times. In the final days, Clark's doctors debated what steps they would take to preserve the patient's life: whether, for instance, it would be medically and ethically appropriate to try kidney dialysis on someone so ill. In the end, however, Clark's rapid deterioration obviated such questions. Said Clark's surgeon, William DeVries: "It was essentially the death of the entire being except...
...fluid was collecting in his vital organs, and his ravaged heart could pump only one liter of blood a minute, about one-seventh the normal rate. When Clark's heart started fluttering abnormally a day before the implantation was scheduled, DeVries decided the operation could not wait. His patient, he said, "probably would have been dead by midnight...
...lose credibility if you're too well known." A father of seven, he sleeps only four or five hours a night to make time for his family and the 16-hr, workday he favors. Typically, DeVries was standing vigil at Clark's side when his patient died...
...encumbrance and the siege of postoperative ailments have all raised doubts about the use of artificial hearts. Said Dr. Michael DeBakey, the noted heart-transplant surgeon from Houston: "To be a success, the heart must restore the individual to normal life. If all it does is keep the patient alive, it has not succeeded." DeBakey and fellow Houston Transplant Expert Denton Cooley therefore favor transplants, which now offer recipients a 70% to 80% chance of surviving a year and a 42% chance of living five years. The best use of the mechanical heart, says Cooley, may be "to sustain...
...size of a camera bag that can run the Utah heart for twelve hours. It may be ready by 1985. Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic, as well as Jarvik, are now working on hearts with implantable motors. In ten years, the only external apparatus needed by an artificial-heart patient may be a 5-lb. battery pack...