The University of Utah had been trying to design a permanent artificial heart since 1967. The chief problem was getting blood where it needed to go without crushing the delicate red blood cells and causing life-threatening clots. On December 2, 1982 Dr. William DeVries implanted an artificial heart into Dr. Barney Clark, a retired dentist. Dr. Clark lived 112 days after the procedure, dying on March 23, 1983. The device that kept him alive for one more Christmas, one more New Year’s, and one more Valentine’s Day was named the Jarvik 7 after a student at the University, Dr. Robert Jarvik. What most people don’t know (but I find absolutely fascinating) is that Paul Winchell, the voice of Tigger in Disney’s Winnie-the-Pooh, also had a hand in this event. A medical student and inventor as well as an entertainer, Winchell designed a seamless ventricle which he patented and later donated to the University of Utah.
No comments:
Post a Comment