Heart: An American Medical Odyssey

by Cheney, Dick

  uncanny resemblance to a Cadillac V-12: “50th Anniversary of First Open Heart Surgery,” Wayne University School of Medicine, October 22, 2002, http://www.med.wayne.edu/news_media/2002/press14.asp

  Following his patient’s death: Lawrence H. Cohn, “Fifty Years of Open-Heart Surgery,” Circulation 2003;107:2168.

  monkey lungs: Stoney, “Evolution of Cardiopulmonary Bypass,” 2844.

  Gibbon’s team finally discovered: Gibbon, “Development of the Artificial Heart and Lung Extracorporeal Blood Circuit.”

  operated on Cecelia Bavolek: “Medicine: Historic Operation,” Time, May 18, 1953, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,818494,00.html.

  prestigious Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award: http://www.laskerfoundation.org/awards/1968_c_description.htm.

  Vasilii Kolesov, a surgeon from Leningrad: V. I. Kolessov, “Mammary Artery-Coronary Artery Anastomosis as Method of Treatment for Angina Pectoris,” Journal of Thoracic Cardiovascular Surgery 1967;54:535–544.

  Michael DeBakey, from Baylor in Houston: H. Edward Garrett, Edward W. Dennis, and Michael DeBakey, “Aortocoronary Bypass with Saphenous Vein Graft,” Journal of the American Medical Association 1973;223:792–794.

  “The opinions concerning’: Igor E. Konstantinov, “Vasilii I. Kolesov: A Surgeon to Remember,” Texas Heart Institute Journal 2004;31:349–358.

  its peak of 190,000: Chad T. Wilson, Elliott S. Fisher, H. Gilbert Welch, Andrea E. Siewers, et al., “U.S. Trends in CABG Hospital Volume: The Effect of Adding Cardiac Surgery Programs,” Health Affairs 2007;26:162–168.

  CHAPTER 8: FITNESS TO SERVE

  “I felt that was good enough for me’: Lawrence K. Altman, “The Medical Histories: Doctors Say Republican Candidates Are in Good Health,” New York Times, November 2, 2000.

  “normal cardiac function’: Steve Sternberg, “Cheney’s Heath Not an Issue, Doctors Say,” USA Today, July 25, 2000.

  “Mr. Cheney’s statistical chances’: Altman, “The Medical Histories.”

  “he’s golden’: Sternberg, “Cheney’s Heath Not an Issue, Doctors Say.”

  “it’s a disease you control, not cure’: Susan Ferraro, “W.’s Pick May Have Heart for Campaign,” New York Daily News, July 25, 2000.

  Federal aviation regulations: “Licenses and Certificates: Coronary Artery Disease,” August 8, 2011, http://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/medical_certification/specialissuance/coronary/.

  On March 4, 1841, William Henry Harrison: http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/williamhenryharrison.

  “The Senator does not now’: Robert A. Caro, The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson (New York: Knopf, 2012), 97.

  Senator Kennedy told the historian Arthur Schlesinger: Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Journals, 1952–2000 (New York: Penguin, 2007), 58.

  The candidate was, in fact, taking cortisone: Lee R. Mandel, “Endocrine and Autoimmune Aspects of the Health History of John F. Kennedy,” Annals of Internal Medicine 2009;151:350–354.

  no gross evidence of adrenal tissue: George D. Lundberg, “Closing the Case in JAMA on the John F. Kennedy Autopsy,” Journal of the American Medical Association 1992;268:1737.

  “it expresses its consent and endorsement’: Herbert L. Adams, “Presidential Health and the Public Interest: The Campaign of 1992,” Political Psychology 1995;16:795–820.

  Lawrence Altman, now a senior scholar: “Lawrence K. Altman,” http://www.wilson center.org/staff/lawrence-k-altman.

  Dr. Howard Bruenn, a cardiologist: Howard G. Bruenn, “Clinical Notes on the Illness and Death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt,” Annals of Internal Medicine 1970;72:580.

  “When we got through’: John H. Crider, “President’s Health Satisfactory; Unique Report Made by McIntre,” New York Times, April 5, 1944.

  “On Saturday, July 8’: http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/Lahey%20–%20FDR%20Memorandum.pdf.

  CHAPTER 9: RECOUNT

  poor outcomes that sometimes ensue: Walter Weintraub, “ ‘The VIP Syndrome’: A Clinical Study in Hospital Psychiatry,” Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 1964;138:181.

  In November 1976: Spencer B. King III, “Angioplasty from Bench to Bedside,” Circulation 1996;93:1621–1629, doi: 10.1161/ 01.CIR.93.9.1621.

  Gruentzig had to develop all the components: David Monagan, Journey into the Heart (New York: Gotham Books, 2007), 93–94.

  “this will never work’: King, “Angioplasty from Bench to Bedside,” 1621–1629.

  Dr. Elias Hanna, a cardiac surgeon: Monagan, Journey into the Heart, 122.

  “Early in the afternoon’: King, “Angioplasty from Bench to Bedside,” 1621–1629.

  Dr. Andrea Gruentzig and his wife: Monagan, Journey into the Heart, 277–284.

  Exactly ten years: King, “Angioplasty from Bench to Bedside,” 1621–1629.

  In February 1978: “An Expert Interview with Dr. Julio Palmaz: Part I—Serendipity and the Stent,” http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/474644.

  Dr. Palmaz spent years: Gernot H. Geisinger, Materials and Innovative Product Development: Using Common Sense (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2009), 213.

  “It was total serendipity’: “An Expert Interview with Dr. Julio Palmaz.”

  Palmaz met Dr. Richard Schatz: Shawn Tully, “Blood Feud,” Fortune, May 31, 2004, http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2004/05/31/370693/.

  “expandable intraluminal vascular graft’: http://www.google.com/patents/US4733665

  Cardiologists enthusiastically embraced: Eric D. Peterson, Alexandra J. Lansky, Kevin J. Anstrom, Lawrence H. Muhlbaier, et al., “Evolving Trends in Interventional Device Use and Outcomes: Results from the National Cardiovascular Network Database,” American Heart Journal 2000;139:198–207.

  In 2009, there were almost: David I. Auerbach, Jared Lane Maeda, and Claudia Steiner, “Hospital Stays with Cardiac Stents, 2009,” Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, April 2012, http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb128.jsp.

  “The first value was obtained’: “The American Presidency Project. George Washington U. Doctors Brief Media on Richard B. Cheney’s Condition,” November 22, 2000, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/showflorida2000php?fileid=cheneyheartattack11–22.

  “We have biochemical markers’: Ibid.

  in an editorial a few days after: “Mr. Cheney’s Heart Attack,” New York Times, November 25, 2000.

  Despite the tumult in the press: Ron Winslow and Laurie McGinley, “Uncertainty Is Common in Cardiac Cases Like Cheney’s,” Wall Street Journal, December 20, 2000.

  CHAPTER 10: WHITE HOUSE CALLS

  During the press conference: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/162999–1.

  The Los Angeles Times published an editorial: “Cheney’s Dilemma,” Los Angeles Times, March 6, 2001.

  US News & World Report speculated: “A Matter of Heart at the Center of Power,” US News & World Report, March 19, 2001.

  Arianna Huffington wasn’t just: “Dick Cheney’s Suicide Mission,” March 7, 2001, http://ariannaonline.huffingtonpost.com/columns/printer_friendly.php?id=200.

  Mordechai Friedman, a Polish Jew: John A. Kastor, You and Your Arrhythmia: A Guide to Heart Rhythm Problems for Patients and Their Families (Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett, 2006), 109.

  Of the 3.3 million Jews: “The Fate of the Jews across Europe: Murder of the Jews of Poland,” http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/holocaust/about/09/poland.asp.

  After the war: “Dr. Michel Mirowski Is Dead at Age of 65; Made Heart Implant,” New York Times, March 28, 1990.

  “In 1966, my old boss’: Kastor, You and Your Arrhythmia,120.

  “I talked to some cardiologists’: Kastor, You and Your Arrhythmia,121.

  “The initial goal set’: Morton M. Mower, “Building the AICD with Michel Mirowski,” PACE 1991;14:928.

  “More memorable for me’: M. S. Heilman, “Collaboration with Michel Mirowski on the Development of the AICD,” PACE 1991;14:910.

  “Experience teach
es’: Bernard Lown and Paul Axelrod, “Implanted Standby Defibrillators,” Circulation 1972;46:637–639.

  “The author’s overcautious and negative attitude’: M. Mirowski, Morton M. Mower, and Albert I. Mendeloff, “Letter to the Editor,” Circulation 1973;47:1135.

  “a graphic illustration’: “Heart Machine Sets a New Pace against Disease,” New Scientist, August 14, 1980, 509.

  published in the New England Journal of Medicine: M. Mirowski, Philip R. Reid, Morton M. Mower, Levi Watkins, et al., “Termination of Malignant Ventricular Arrhythmias with an Implanted Automatic Defibrillator in Human Beings,” New England Journal of Medicine 1980;303:322–324.

  “Although considerable additional work’: James T. Willerson, “Prevention and Control of Ventricular Arrhythmias,” New England Journal of Medicine 1980;303:332–334.

  “The electrophysiology study scheduled’: http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/06/20010629–2.html.

  CHAPTER 11: TREATING THE VICE PRESIDENT

  “an apolitical, professionally focused’: Ludwig M. Deppisch, The White House Physician: A History from Washington to George W. Bush (Jefferson: McFarland & Company, 2007), 150.

  “Well, no, I’ve—it’s obviously a question’: “Excerpts from Cheney Health Remarks,” June 30, 2001, http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/30/us/excerpts-from-cheney-health-remarks.html?pagewanted=2.

  It has been estimated: Saskia Kulpers, Suzanne C. Cannegeiter, Saskai Middeldorp, Luc Robyn, et al., “The Absolute Risk of Venous Thrombosis after Air Travel: A Cohort Study of 8,755 Employees of International Organisations,” PLoS Medicine 2007;4:e290.

  a computer hacker disclosed: Darren Pauli, “Hacked Terminals Capable of Causing Pacemaker Deaths,” SC Magazine, October 17, 2012, http://www.scmagazine.com.au/News/319508,hacked-terminals-capable-of-causing-pacemaker-mass-murder.aspx.

  exactly the way the fictional terrorist: “The Terrorist Hack That Shocked America—and Why It Matters,” CNBC, December 12, 2012, http://www.cnbc.com/id/100306578.

  CHAPTER 12: SLIPPERY SLOPE

  President Bush later made a public service announcement: “A Message from George Bush,” http://www.strokeheart.org/CYPA/bush.html.

  Cardiac imaging with sound waves: Harvey Feigenbaum, “Evolution of Echocardiography,” Circulation 1996;93:1321.

  First used in 1953 to examine cardiac structures: Siddarth Singh and Abha Goyal, “The Origin of Echocardiography: A Tribute to Inge Edler,” Texas Heart Institute Journal 2007;34:431.

  afflicting 350,000 Americans each year: “Sudden Cardiac Arrest: A Healthcare Crisis,” http://www.sca-aware.org/about-sca.

  The medical community has long understood: Jonathan S. Reiner, Allen J. Solomon, and Richard J. Katz, “Shock and Law,” Circulation 2011;124:1391–1394.

  the adhesive electrode: “R. Lee Heath: The Inventor of Hands Free Cardiac Defibrillation and Pacing Pads,” http://www.defib.us.com.

  In 1994, the American Heart Association: Myron L. Weisfeldt, Richard E. Kerber, R. Pat McGoldrick, Arthur J. Moss, et al., “Public Access Defibrillation: A Statement for Healthcare Professionals from the American Heart Association Task Force on Automatic External Defibrillation,” Circulation 1995;92:2763.

  The gaming industry: Terence D. Valenzuela, Denise J. Roe, Graham Nichol, et al., “Outcomes of Rapid Defibrillation by Security Officers after Cardiac Arrest in Casinos,” New England Journal of Medicine 2000;343:1206–1209.

  A bill before the 113th Congress: H.R. 2135: Cardiac Arrest Survival Act of 2013. To Amend the Public Health Service Act to Clarify Liability Protections regarding Emergency Use of Automated External Defibrillators.

  CHAPTER 13: DOWNHILL

  “The New Treatment Cheney Did Not Get’: Lawrence K. Altman, “The New Treatment Cheney Did Not Get,” New York Times, March 13, 2001.

  The Egyptians introduced the technique: Gilbert R. Seigworth, “Bloodletting over the Centuries,” http://www.pbs.org/wnet/redgold/basics/bloodlettinghistory.html.

  George Washington became ill: Herbert Mitgang, “Death of a President: A 200-Year-Old Malpractice Debate,” New York Times, December 14, 1999, http://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/14/health/death-of-a-president-a-200-year-old-malpractice-debate.html.

  Giorgio Baglivi, a seventeenth-century: W. Bruce Fye, “Giogrio Baglivi,” Clinical Cardiology 2002;25:488.

  the federal government began funding a program: David K. C. Cooper, Open Heart: The Radical Surgeons Who Revolutionized Medicine (New York: Kaplan, 2010), 363.

  Dr. DeBakey developed surgical techniques: Lawrence K. Altman, “Michael DeBakey, Rebuilder of Hearts, Dies at 99,” New York Times, July 13, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/health/13debakey.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.

  “We became interested in the artificial heart’: Cooper, Open Heart, 362.

  “Our first clinical application of this pump’: Michael E. DeBakey, “Development of Mechanical Heart Devices,” Annals of Thoracic Surgery 2005;79:228–231.

  On April 4, 1969: Lawrence K. Altman, “The Feud,” New York Times, November 27, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/27/health/27docs.html?pagewanted=all.

  “In 1968, it was evident to me’: Cooper, Open Heart, 379.

  The initial VADs created pulsatile flow: Douglas J. Hirsch and John R. Cooper, “Cardiac Failure and Left Ventricular Assist Devices,” Anesthesiology Clinics of North America 2003;21:628.

  Recent data from a National Heart Lung: James K. Kirklin, David C. Naftel, Robert L. Kormos, Lynne W. Stevenson, et al., “Fifth INTERMACS Annual Report: Risk Factor Analysis from More Than 6,000 Mechanical Circulatory Support Patients,” Journal of Heart Lung Transplantation 2013;32:143.

  The HeartMate II LVAD: Farooq H. Shiekh and Stuart Russell, “HeartMate II Continuous-Flow Left Ventricular Assist System,” Expert Review of Medical Devices 2011;8:11–21.

  CHAPTER 14: TRANSPLANT

  “Choosing an appropriate recipient for a heart transplant’: “Way Is Clear for Heart Transplant,” Journal of the American Medical Association 1967;202(8):31.

  “I believe that this nation’: President John F. Kennedy, excerpt from the Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs, May 25, 1961, http://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/features/jfk_speech_text.html.

  It was during these animal studies: David K. C. Cooper, Open Heart: The Radical Surgeons Who Revolutionized Medicine (New York: Kaplan, 2010), 319–320.

  Lower and Shumway devised a method to suture: Donald McRae, Every Second Counts (New York: Berkley Books, 2006), 83–86.

  Dr. Yurii Voronoy, a Ukrainian: Edouard Matevossian, Hans Kern, Norbert Hüser, et al.: “Surgeon Yurii Voronoy (1895–1961)—A Pioneer in the History of Clinical Transplantation: In Memoriam at the 75th Anniversary of the First Human Kidney Transplantation,” Transplant International 2009:22:1132.

  Peter Medawar, a British biologist: “The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1960, Peter Medawar—Biographical,” http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1960/medawar-bio.html.

  In 1954, Dr. Joseph Murray: Thomas E. Starzl, “The Development of Clinical Renal Transplantation,” American Journal of Kidney Diseases 1990;16:549.

  total body irradiation: Rene J. Duquesnoy, “Early History of Transplant Immunology: Part II,” ASHI Quarterly, Fourth Quarter 2005, http://www.ashi-hla.org/docs/newsletter/ASHI_Quarterly/29_4_2005/3_ear_hist_trans_part2.pdf.

  “The precise mechanism’: Richard R. Lower, Raymond C. Stofer, and Norman E. Shumway, “Homovital Transplantation of the Heart,” Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 1961;41:196.10.

  On June 11, 1963: McRae, Every Second Counts, 130.

  Ten days later: “Pardon to Reward Convict in Rare Lung Transplant,” Fort Scott Tribune, June 21, 1963, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1906&dat=19630621&id=8dofAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RNkEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1852,2461432.

  “But how soon after’: James D. Hardy, Carlos M. Chavez, Fred D. Kurrus, et al., “Heart Transplantation in Man,” Journal of the American Medical Associati
on 1964;188:115.

  “When, if ever’: Hardy et al., “Heart Transplantation in Man,” 115.

  “Since we were not willing’: Hardy et al., “Heart Transplantation in Man,” 116.

  “A regular and forceful beat’: Hardy et al., “Heart Transplantation in Man,” 120.

  In a reverse of the procedure: McRae, Every Second Counts, 181–182.

  “was harder technically and emotionally’: Richard D. Lyons, “Heart Transplant Fails to Save 2-Week-Old Baby in Brooklyn,” New York Times, December 7, 1967.

  immune systems are immature: Adrian Kantrowitz, “America’s First Human Heart Transplantation: The Concept, the Planning and the Furor,” ASAIO Journal 1998;44:244.

  Kantrowitz was a remarkable innovator: Jascha Hoffmann, “Dr. Adrian Kantrowitz, Cardiac Pioneer, Dies at 90,” New York Times, November 19, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/us/19kantrowiztz.html.

  abandon the transplant: McRae, Every Second Counts, 161–162.

  “All we were interested in’: Cooper, Open Heart, 328–331.

  Louis Washkansky was a: Life, December 15, 1967, 24A.

  Denise Darvall, a twenty-five-year-old woman: McRae, Every Second Counts, 200.

  “I decided I would not take out Denise’s heart’: Cooper, Open Heart, 334.

  According to Marius: McRae, Every Second Counts, 206–207.

  “Now we’ve got the heart in a donor’: “Gift of a Heart,” Life, December 15, 1967, 27.

  “Right away after the shock’: Ibid.

  Adrian Kantrowitz became the first surgeon: McRae, Every Second Counts, 235–236.

  “We were trying to make one whole individual out of two individuals’: Lyons, “Heart Transplant Fails to Save 2-Week-Old Baby in Brooklyn.”

  This patient was Philip Blaiberg: McRae, Every Second Counts, 269–274.

  Dr. Shumway began using cyclosporin A: Daniel J. DiBardino, “The History and Development of Cardiac Transplantation,” Texas Heart Institute Journal 1999;26:204.