Ticker

by Mimi Swartz

  CHAPTER 15: MATILDA

  Interviewees include Bud Frazier, Billy Cohn, Daniel Timms, Steve Parnis, Denton Cooley, Marianne Mallia, and Jim and Linda McIngvale. Descriptions of the implantations that follow are my own, as I was present.

  All cities have local celebrities: Biographical information on Jim and Linda McIngvale comes from author interviews and from Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale with Thomas N. Duening and John M. Ivancevich, Always Think Big, How Mattress Mack’s Uncompromising Attitude Built the Biggest Single Retail Store in America (Chicago: Dearborn Trade Publishing, 2002).

  Soon after, without a nap: Eric Berger, “Donor Brings Inventor of Artificial Heart Closer to Houston; Australian Engineer’s Device Has Lots of Believers Here,” Houston Chronicle, January 14, 2013.

  CHAPTER 16: THE OCCUPATION

  Interviews with Bud Frazier, Billy Cohn, Daniel Timms, Steve Parnis, Jesse Rios, Bruce Rosengard, Jim and Linda McIngvale, and Kerri Sprung.

  The machine was a success from: Jerome Groopman, “Print Thyself: How 3-D Printing Is Revolutionizing Medicine,” New Yorker, November 24, 2014.

  One recent former president: Clifford Pugh, “Former Baylor College of Medicine Prez Peter Traber Marries in a Wacky Las Vegas Ceremony,” Houston Culturemap, January 2, 2013.

  He was incensed: “Injecting 420 More Beds into Baylor’s Once Catatonic McNair Campus South of the TMC,” Swamplot, December 21, 2015.

  But the biggest shock: Todd Ackerman, “St. Luke’s Exploring Hospital Sale Options,” Houston Chronicle, November 3, 2012; Todd Ackerman, “St. Luke’s to Sell to National Catholic System,” Houston Chronicle, April 19, 2013.

  unveiling the obligatory multimillion-dollar rebranding campaign: Links to the advertising campaigns can be found here: http://tlgadvertising.com/​portfolio/​living-proof; http://tlgadvertising.com/​wp-content/​uploads/​2015/​02/​CHISL_CV_NSP_docs1.jpg.

  There had been a big blowout: Mimi Swartz, “Old Houston Salutes an Irreverent Heart Surgeon,” New York Times, September 29, 2012.

  These qualities did not go unnoticed: Mimi Swartz, “It Can’t All Be Energy: A Heart Surgeon Leads His City to the Forefront of Medical Innovation,” Texas Monthly, May 2017.

  CHAPTER 17: THE POWER SOURCE

  Interviews with Bud Frazier, Billy Cohn, Daniel Timms, Jim and Linda McIngvale, Frank Michel, Robert Jarvik, Allison Balser, and Marianne Mallia.

  This was not a new idea: Shelley McKellar, “Negotiating Risk: The Failed Development of Atomic Hearts in America, 1967–1977,” Technology and Culture 54, no. 1 (January 2013).

  In the early 2000s: Anita Hamilton, “Abiocor Artificial Heart,” in “Best Inventions of 2001,” Time, November 19, 2001.

  The longest-living patient: Katharine Ristich, “The Last 5 Months of a Fighter: Remembering Robert Tools,” Medscape, December 3, 2001; John Fisher, “Robert Tools: Artificial Heart Transplant,” To Transplant and Beyond, http://www.heart-transplant.co.uk/​robert.html.

  “There is no reason a person should die”: Dennis Hevesi, “David Lederman, Pioneer of Artificial Heart, Dies at 68,” New York Times, August 28, 2012.

  In the movie: For the plot summary, see “Crank: High Voltage,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/​wiki/​Crank:_High_Voltage.

  CHAPTER 18: THE DREAM OF ETERNAL LIFE

  Interviewees include Bud Frazier, Billy Cohn, and Allison Babineaux.

  The memorial service was held: “Memorial Service for Denton A. Cooley, MD, November 28, 2016,” YouTube, posted by Texas Heart Institute, November 29, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/​watch?v=Ugx64djjzbQ.

  At one event, he was cornered: Swartz, “It Can’t All Be Energy.”

  One of those was Ally Babineaux: Alicia Dennis and Darla Atlas, “The Bionic Bride,” People, June 7, 2010.

  But a year or so later: Seamus McGraw, “ ‘Bionic Bride’ Still in Critical Condition, but ‘A Little Better,’ ” Today, January 25, 2011, https://www.today.com/​news/​bionic-bride-still-critical-condition-little-better-wbna41256873.

  SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

  BOOKS

  Amidon, Stephen, and Thomas Amidon. The Sublime Engine: A Biography of the Human Heart. New York: Rodale, 2011.

  Bulgakov, Mikhail. A Country Doctor’s Notebook. London: Harvill Press, 1995.

  Butler, William T. Arming for Battle Against Disease Through Education, Research and Patient Care at Baylor College of Medicine, Book I. Houston, TX: Baylor College of Medicine, 2011.

  Conrad, Peter. The Sociology of Health and Illness: Critical Perspectives. New York: Worth, 2009.

  Cooley, Denton. Essays of Denton Cooley, MD: Reflections and Observations. Austin, TX: Eakin Press, 1973.

  Cooley, Denton. 100,000 Hearts: A Surgeon’s Memoir. Austin, TX: Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin, 2012.

  Cooper, David K. C. Open Heart: The Radical Surgeons Who Revolutionized Medicine. New York: Kaplan, 2010.

  DeBakey, Michael E., ed. The Yearbook of General Surgery. Chicago: Yearbook Medical, 1970.

  Diethrich, Edward B. SLED: Serendipitous Life of Edward Diethrich. Wilmington, OH: Orange Frazer Press, 2016.

  Dutton, Diana B. Worse than the Disease: Pitfalls of Medical Progress. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.

  Foote, Susan Bartlett. Managing the Medical Arms Race: Innovation and Public Policy in the Medical Device Industry. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.

  Forrester, James S. The Heart Healers: The Misfits, Mavericks, and Rebels Who Created the Greatest Medical Breakthrough of Our Lives. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2015.

  Fox, Renee C., and Judith P. Swazey. The Courage to Fail: A Social View of Organ Transplants and Dialysis. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 2009.

  Fox, Renee C., and Judith P. Swazey. Spare Parts: Organ Replacement in American Society. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 2013.

  Frazier, O. H., and James K. Kirklin. Mechanical Circulatory Support, Vol. 1. ISHLT Monograph Series. Philadelphia: Elsevier, 2001.

  Fye, W. Bruce. Caring for the Heart: Mayo Clinic and the Rise of Specialization. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.

  Gillam, James T. Life and Death in the Central Highlands: An American Sergeant in the Vietnam War, 1968–1970. Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2010.

  Greenberg, Daniel S. Science, Money, and Politics: Political Triumph and Ethical Erosion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001.

  Heaman, E. A., Alison Li, and Shelley McKellar, eds. Essays in Honour of Michael Bliss: Figuring the Social. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008.

  Houghton, Peter. On Death, Dying and Not Dying. London: Jessica Kingsley, 2001.

  Institute of Medicine. The Artificial Heart: Prototypes, Policies, and Patients. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1991.

  Jeffrey, Kirk. Machines in Our Hearts: The Cardiac Pacemaker, the Implantable Defibrillator, and American Health Care. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.

  Lasby, Clarence G. Eisenhower’s Heart Attack: How Ike Beat Heart Disease and Held On to the Presidency. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1997.

  Lerner, Barron H. When Illness Goes Public: Celebrity Patients and How We Look at Medicine. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.

  Liotta, Domingo. The Amazing Adventures of a Heart Surgeon: The Artificial Heart: The Frontiers of Human Life. Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, 2007.

  Marcus Aurelius. Meditations. Translated by George Long. Sioux Falls, SD: NuVision, 2008.

  Mattox, Kenneth L., ed. The History of Surgery in Houston. Austin, TX: Eakin Press, 1998.

  McIngvale, Jim, with Thomas N. Duening and John M. Ivancevich. How Mattress Mack’s Uncompromising Attitude Built the Biggest Single Retail Store in America. Chicago: Dearborn Trade,
2002.

  McKellar, Shelley. Artificial Hearts: The Allure and Ambivalence of a Controversial Medical Technology. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018.

  McRae, Donald. Every Second Counts: The Race to Transplant the First Human Heart. London: Pocket Books, 2007.

  Miller, G. Wayne. King of Hearts: The True Story of the Maverick Who Pioneered Open Heart Surgery. New York: Times Books, 2000.

  Minetree, Harry. Cooley: The Career of a Great Heart Surgeon. New York: Harper’s Magazine Press, 1973.

  Monagan, David, with David O. Williams. Journey into the Heart: A Tale of Pioneering Doctors and Their Race to Transform Cardiovascular Medicine. New York: Gotham Books, 2007.

  National Heart and Lung Institute, Artificial Heart Assessment Panel. The Totally Implantable Artificial Heart: Economic, Ethical, Legal, Medical, Psychiatric [and] Social Implications: A Report. Reprints from the collection of the University of Michigan Library. San Bernardino, CA: Prepared for Publishing by HP, 2017.

  National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. The Artificial Heart: Planning for Evolving Technologies. Washington, DC: NHLBI, 1994.

  Ness, Roberta B. Genius Unmasked. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.

  The President’s Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer and Stroke. Report to the President: A National Program to Conquer Heart Disease, Cancer, and Stroke (Reports of the Subcommittees on Heart Disease, Cancer, and Stroke). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1965.

  Rothman, David J. Strangers at the Bedside: A History of How Law and Bioethics Transformed Medical Decision Making. Lexington, MA: Basic Books, 1991.

  Salvaggio, John E. New Orleans’ Charity Hospital: A Story of Physicians, Politics, and Poverty. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1992.

  Schwartz, William B. Life Without Disease: The Pursuit of Medical Utopia. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.

  Sharp, Lesley A. Strange Harvest: Organ Transplants, Denatured Bodies, and the Transformed Self. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006.

  Shaw, Margery, ed. After Barney Clark: Reflections on the Utah Artificial Heart Program. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1984.

  Smolin, Shirley Karp. Where the Heart Is. Blurb Creative Publishing, 2012.

  Spingarn, Natalie Davis. Heartbeat: The Politics of Health Research. Washington, DC: Robert B. Luce, 1976.

  Strickland, Stephen P. Politics, Science, and Dread Disease. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972.

  Texas Heart Institute Foundation. Twenty-Five Years of Excellence: A History of the Texas Heart Institute. Houston: Texas Heart Institute Foundation, 1989.

  Thompson, Thomas. Hearts. London: Pan Books, 1972.

  Westaby, Stephen. Landmarks in Cardiac Surgery. Oxford: Isis Medical Media, 1997.

  Winters, William L., Jr., with Betsy Parrish. Houston Hearts. Houston, TX: Elisha Freeman, 2014.

  INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS AND PAPERS

  Michael E. DeBakey Papers: Profiles in Science, U.S. National Library of Medicine, https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/​ps/​retrieve/​Narrative/​FJ/​p-nid/​322.

  Oral History Interview of Dr. Michael E. DeBakey by David McComb, History of Medicine Division of the National Library of Medicine, June 29, 1969.

  Mary Lasker Papers, “Mary Lasker and the Growth of the National Institutes of Health,” Profiles in Science, U.S. National Library of Medicine, https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/​ps/​retrieve/​Narrative/​TL/​p-nid/​200.

  Dave Thompson and Chris Nelson, transcripts of interviews for O. H. “Bud” Frazier tribute film, August–October 2013.

  JOURNAL ARTICLES

  Abou-Awdi, Nancy L. “Thermo Cardiosystems Left Ventricular Assist Device as a Bridge to Cardiac Transplant.” AACN Journals 2, no. 3 (August 1991).

  Agustin, Gary C. “Ethical Issues Related to the Artificial Heart.” Journal of Religion and Health 25, no. 3 (Fall 1986).

  Annas, George J. “Consent to the Artificial Heart: The Lion and the Crocodiles.” Hastings Center Report 13, no. 2 (April 1983).

  Berenson, Claudia K., and Bernard I. Grosser. “Total Artificial Heart Implantation.” Archives of General Psychiatry 41 (September 1984).

  Butler, K. C., J. C. Moise, and R. K. Wampler. “The Hemopump—A New Cardiac Prosthesis Device.” IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 37, no. 2 (February 1990): 193–196.

  Caplan, Arthur L. “The Artificial Heart.” Hastings Center Report 12, no. 1 (1982): 22–24.

  Cohn, William E., Daniel L. Timms, and O. H. Frazier. “Total Artificial Hearts: Past, Present, and Future.” Nature Reviews Cardiology 12 (2015): 609–617.

  Cooley, Denton, et al. “Total Artificial Heart in Two Staged Cardiac Transplantation.” Cardiovascular Disease 3, no. 3 (September 1981): 305–319.

  Cooley, Denton. “A Brief History of the Texas Heart Institute.” Texas Heart Institute Journal 35, no. 3 (June 2008): 235–239.

  DeBakey, Michael E. “The Artificial Heart: Total Replacement.” Transplantation Proceedings 3, no. 4 (December 1971): 1445–1448.

  DeBakey, Michael E. “John Gibbon and the Heart-Lung Machine: A Personal Encounter and His Import for Cardiovascular Surgery.” Annals of Thoracic Surgery 76 (2003): S2188–S2194.

  Dennis, Clarence. “Present and Future of the Artificial Heart.” Biomaterials, Medical Devices, and Artificial Organs 3, no. 2 (1975): 155–160.

  Dhruva, Sanket, and Rita Redberg. “Medical Device Regulation: Time to Improve Performance.” PLOS Medicine, July 2012.

  Frazier, O. H. “Mechanical Circulatory Assist Device Development at the Texas Heart Institute: A Personal Perspective.” Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 147, no. 6 (June 2014): 1738–1744.

  Frazier, O. H., et al. “The Total Artificial Heart: Where We Stand.” Cardiology 101, nos. 1–3 (2004): 117–121.

  Gemmato, Courtney J., et al. “Thirty-Five Years of Mechanical Circulatory Support at the Texas Heart Institute.” Texas Heart Institute Journal 32, no. 2 (2005): 168–177.

  Gideon, Gil. “The Artificial Heart Juggernaut.” Hastings Center Report 19, no. 2 (March 1989): 24–32.

  Gilbert, Robert E. “Eisenhower’s 1955 Heart Attack.” Politics and the Life Sciences 27, no. 1 (2008): 2–21.

  Jarvik, Robert K. “The Total Artificial Heart.” Scientific American, January 1981, 74–80.

  Jauhar, Sandeep. “The Artificial Heart.” New England Journal of Medicine 350 (February 2004): 542–544.

  Jonsen, Albert R. “The Artificial Heart’s Threat to Others.” Hastings Center Report 16, no. 1 (February 1986): 9–11.

  Kolff, Willem. “Delays by Recalcitrant FDA, Reluctant NIH, and Fearful Industry: The Cost in Human Life, Happiness, Money, and Loss of Opportunity for American Industry.” Artificial Organs 17, no. 9 (February 1993): 753–757.

  Lubeck, Deborah P., and John P. Bunker. “Case Study #9: The Artificial Heart: Cost, Risks, and Benefits.” The Implications of Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Medical Technology, Office of Technology Assessment, May 1982.

  Makower, J., A. Meer, and L. Denend. “FDA Impact on U.S. Medical Technology Innovation: A Survey of over 200 Medical Technology Companies.” November 2010.

  McKellar, Shelley. “Negotiating Risk: The Failed Development of Atomic Hearts in America, 1967–1977.” Technology and Culture 54, no. 1 (January 2013): 1–39.

  Messerli, Franz H., Adrian W. Messerli, and Thomas F. Lüscher. “Eisenhower’s Billion-Dollar Heart Attack—50 Years Later.” New England Journal of Medicine 353 (September 22, 2005): 1205–1207.

  Miller, Leslie W., et al. “Use of a Continuous-Flow Device in Patients Awaiting Heart Transplantation.” New England Journal of Medicine 357 (August 30, 2007): 885–896.

  Roberts, William C. “Michael Ellis DeBakey: A Conversation with the Editor.” America
n Journal of Cardiology 79, no. 7 (April 1, 1997): 929–950.

  Roberts, William C. “Denton Arthur Cooley, MD: A Conversation with the Editor.” American Journal of Cardiology, 79, no. 8 (April 15, 1997): 1078–1091.

  Rose, Eric, et al. “Long-Term Use of a Left Ventricular Assist Device for End-Stage Heart Failure.” New England Journal of Medicine 345 (November 15, 2001): 1435–1443.

  Stein, Amanda D. “The Heart’s Surgeon.” TMC Pulse 36, no. 7 (May 7, 2014): 13–15.

  Strauss, Michael J. “The Political History of the Artificial Heart.” New England Journal of Medicine 310 (February 2, 1984): 332–336.

  MAGAZINE ARTICLES

  “Artificial Heart Surgeon William Devries Transplants Himself to Greener Pastures.” People, August 20, 1984.

  Bailey, Ronald, and Alex Kerr. “A Patient’s Gift to the Future of Heart Repair.” Life, May 6, 1966, 84–92.

  Baum, Dan. “No Pulse: How Doctors Reinvented the Human Heart.” Popular Science, March 2012, 37–45, 74.

  Baumgold, Julie. “In the Kingdom of the Brain.” New York Magazine, February 6, 1989, 36–43.

  Bernstein, Barton J. “The Artificial Heart Program.” Center Magazine, May/June 1981, 22–41.

  Clark, Matt. “A Tiny Booster for the Heart,” Newsweek, May 16, 1988, 73.

  Gonzales, Laurence. “The Rock ’n’ Roll Heart of Robert Jarvik, Creator of the Artificial Heart.” Playboy, April 1986.

  Groopman, Jerome. “Heart Surgery, Unplugged.” New Yorker, January 11, 1999, 43–51.

  Groopman, Jerome. “Print Thyself.” New Yorker, November 24, 2014.

  Levy, Renee Gearthart. “The Beat Goes On.” Syracuse University Magazine 5, no. 4 (1989).

  McMurran, Kristin. “There’s Nothing Artificial About the Way Robert Jarvik’s Heart Beats for His Brainy Bride to Be.” People, July 27, 1987.