In July of 1991, the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine issued a study in which they recommended continued federal funding for both Left-Ventricular Assist Devices (LVADs) and TAHs. By the end of 1988, $20 million had been awarded to four centers to continue this research. Legislators from states such as Utah and Massachusetts, where heart research was being conducted, fought to block Lenfant's plan. The threat of shutting down research on the TAH created a whirlwind of political protest in Congress. Lenfant argued that a totally implantable artificial heart was still at least ten years away and might well wind up benefiting a relatively small number of patients at great cost. The recent experience with artificial hearts, he believed, clearly indicated that such devices could be best used to assist failing hearts or for temporary use until a transplant could be found. In January of 1988 the new director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Claude Lenfant, decided to cancel the NIH program to build a total artificial heart. It became clear from these experiments that the Jarvik-7 was not suitable for use as a permanent replacement device. The other recipients of total artificial hearts, two at Louisville, one in Sweden, and one in Arizona-all experienced similar difficulties and ultimately died.

During the course of the next 620 days he spent on the device, he had three more strokes the last brought about his death. Schroeder initially did well on the heart, but within nineteen days he suffered a stroke. Schroeder received his implant of a Jarvik heart on November 29, 1984, less than two months after the IRB at Humana-Audubon gave its approval. Could those facing certain death really be said to choose? And were those conducting the research so enthusiastic and hopeful about its prospects that they could not provide a realistic picture of the risks and dangers inherent in the experiment (Fox and Swazey)?īetween 19, four more implants were done using artificial hearts as permanent replacements for the human heart. Among other things, the Clark experiment raised questions about the adequacy of informed consent of potential recipients. But the IRB at Utah, troubled by the many complications that had arisen during the experiment, asked for many changes and clarifications in the research protocol before giving DeVries permission to try another implant. They had kept a man alive in the final stages of heart failure for well over three months. After his death, more than 1,300 people, including political figures, members of the governing council of the Latter-Day Saints (Mormon) Church, of which Clark was a member, many of his doctors, and media representatives from around the world attended his funeral in Seattle, Washington.ĭeVries and the Utah group pronounced the Clark experiment a success. After a few weeks on the machine, his emotional and cognitive state deteriorated severely, and on more than one occasion, he asked that the artificial heart be turned off. He suffered a wide range of complications that required three additional surgical procedures.

But Clark followed a very rocky course during the 112 days he lived with the Jarvik-7 device. In the days after the implant, the healthcare team made many optimistic pronouncements to the media about Clark's chances for survival. Jarvik and DeVries spent many hours speaking with the media about the operation, the device, and their patient's health status.

When his heart began to fail on December 1, he was taken to the operating room, and after a nine-hour operation he became the first human being to receive an artificial heart intended as a permanent replacement for his own. He signed the eighteen-page consent form the night he was admitted to the hospital. Clark, a retired dentist who had been admitted to the University of Utah Medical Center on November 29, 1982, with cardiomyopathy, was deemed to be an ideal candidate for the first implant of the Jarvik heart (Fox and Swazey) as he was educated, enthusiastic, and had a very supportive family.

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