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BARNEY
CLARKE
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| The
world was watching as Barney Clark survived 112 days with
his artificial heart. |
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Nearly
twenty years would pass before another artificial heart recipient
would inspire hope among doctors and the general public alike.
In 1982, Dr. William DeVries of the University of Utah implanted
a 61 year-old-dentist named Barney Clark with an artificial
heart called Jarvik 7. Since Clark was too sick to be eligible
for a donated heart, Clark's implant would be permanent.
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Clark's implant robbed him of his freedom, binding
him to his bed and causing constant infections and several
strokes.
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The
procedure was a media event. But though Clark's implant prolonged
his life, it also robbed him of his freedom. Like Karp's temporary
heart, Jarvik 7 was an air-driven pump, and Clark was bound
to the washing machine-sized air compressor thatpowered
it. As with Karp, tubes from the compressor passed through
Clark's chest wall, binding him to his bed and causing constant
infections. What's more, Clark's blood kept clotting as it
passed through the imperfect man-made pump. Clark suffered
a number of strokes before he died 112 days after his implantation.
Again the public, and the politicians allocating public funds,
turned against the notion of an artificial heart.
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