Robert Jarvik: An Innovator with Heart

Robert Jarvik, MD, remembers Dec. 2, 1982, as vividly as if it were last week. He was 36 at the time and a device he designed, the Jarvik 7 artificial heart, was about to be implanted into a human patient for the first time. That patient, a retired dentist named Barney Clark, had been at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City for about a week, and his medical team, lead by William DeVries, MD, planned to put off the surgery just a little while longer in hopes of getting Clark as strong as possible for the operation. But Clark wasn't getting stronger. Robert Jarvik, MD, will receive the MDEA Lifetime Achievement Award during a special ceremony at MD&M East in New York City on June 12, 2018.  "He deteriorated rather fast and Dr. DeVries did not think he would live through the night, so they scheduled the surgery for the soonest they could get it done, which was something that began around 10 at night," Jarvik told MD+DI. "There was a very, very large snow storm that hit just about that time." In what seemed like no time at all, the streets of Salt Lake City had accumulated between six inches and a foot of snow. "The University hospital is uphill from the city so I remember distinctly trying to get there and wondering if I was going to miss it because of the snow," Jarvik said. "But I did get there on time and most of the team was there and it became a very intense scene. You can imagine, the middle of the night and everybody is operating on this one patient, ...
Source: MDDI - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: MD & M East (New York) Cardiovascular Design Source Type: news