LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Robert Tools, the first person to receive a fully self-contained artificial heart, suffered a severe setback Thursday at Jewish Hospital and is not expected to recover.
Tools, 59, went into multiorgan system failure after he developed bleeding in his abdominal area, according to a statement from the hospital Friday.
Tools, a retired telephone company worker, was suffering from congestive heart failure, diabetes and kidney disease before receiving the artificial heart July 2. He had been given little chance of surviving 30 days without the surgery.
Tools’ bleeding was attributed to the anti-coagulation problems he experienced as part of his severe and chronic medical condition, the statement said.
“It is not anticipated that Mr. Tools will recover from this setback,” the statement said.
Since Tools received the heart, five other patients also have received one, including a man who died earlier this week at a hospital in Houston.
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