![]() Clark could never leave the hospital, but he did get to celebrate his wedding anniversary with Una and their children.Ĭlark died 112 days after his surgery. People saw Clark and his wife, Una Loy, as heroes. News reporters worldwide told the story of Barney Clark and the artificial heart operation in Utah. Clark and his doctors thought it was ethical. Plus, an artificial heart costs a lot of money. They wanted to make sure patients’ bodies and rights were protected. Some people wondered if the artificial heart operation was ethical or what medical professionals should do. He had infections, strokes, seizures, and depressing thoughts. He lived much longer than anyone expected, but he was miserable. Clark had to be attached to a giant air compressor that powered the artificial heart for the rest of his life.Īn article about the artificial heart from the University of Utah Student Newspapers, December 2, 1987Ĭlark knew that he had little chance of living after the surgery, but he agreed to help science and other people. They removed his sick heart and replaced it with the Jarvik-7. On December 1, 1982, a team of doctors performed a seven-hour surgery on Clark. He agreed to become the first person to have a “total artificial heart” permanently placed in his body. But Clark was also a brave man who wanted his experience to help others. He could hardly walk from one room to another, and he felt very weak and ill. It was made of polyester, plastic, and aluminum, and it was connected by hoses to a 400-pound air compressor.Ĭlark was a dentist from Seattle, Washington, whose heart was failing. They named it the Jarvik-7 after Robert Jarvik, its inventor and a member of the team. The scientists at the University of Utah Medical Center, led by Kolff, looked for a patient who could use their artificial heart. At the same time, researchers in other places were also inventing machines to help people with sick hearts. In the 1970s, they practiced putting artificial hearts in animals to make sure the devices would be safe for humans. Kolff and other talented doctors worked together at the Institute for Biomedical Engineering at the University of Utah. He hoped these devices could replace sick kidneys, lungs, hearts, and eyes. Kolff invented several different artificial organs. He came to work at the University of Utah in 1967. Willem Kolff began inventing machines that he hoped would help people in the 1940s, in Europe. Scientists tried to solve this problem by creating devices that copied the way the human heart works. For most of history, people with heart problems died and doctors could do little to help them. Today, it is possible to transplant an organ-such as a liver or even a heart-from one person to another. When the organs in a person’s body become sick, their entire body suffers. ![]() Photo courtesy of the National Institutes of Health, United States Department of Health and Human Services ![]()
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