Patient with artificial heart dies

By Mark F. Barnett

Associated Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Robert Tools, the first person to receive a fully self-contained artificial heart, died Friday after suffering a setback. He was 59 and had lived with the device for 151 days.

Tools died of complications after severe abdominal bleeding, said Drs. Laman Gray Jr. and Robert Dowling, who implanted the softball-sized device on July 2 at Jewish Hospital.

“Bob became a dear friend to all of us,” Dowling said. “We will miss Bob’s laugh, his sense of humor and his fighting spirit.”

Tools, a retired telephone company worker, was suffering from congestive heart failure, diabetes and kidney disease before receiving the artificial heart. He had been given little chance of surviving 30 days without the surgery.

Tools began bleeding Thursday and his organs began failing later that night, the hospital said. His abdominal bleeding was caused by continuous anti-coagulation problems Tools had experienced since the landmark surgery.

His death was unrelated to the stroke he suffered Nov. 11, the hospital said. The hospital also said the deterioration of his condition was not caused by complications or any malfunction of the experimental AbioCor heart device.

In August, Tools said he had a choice “to stay home and die or come here and take a chance. I decided to come here and take a chance.”

“I realize that death is inevitable, but I also realize that if there’s an opportunity to extend it, you take it,” he said.

Four other patients across the country underwent the same surgery as Tools and are living with the AbioCor hearts. A fifth patient underwent the surgery in Houston this week but did not survive the operation.

The grapefruit-size plastic-and-titanium device was made by Abiomed Inc. of Danvers, Mass. Unlike earlier artificial hearts, it has no wires or tubes that stick out of the chest and connect to a big compressor.

As recently as early November, Tools was able to have collard greens and a cheesesteak during a luncheon outing with Louisville’s mayor. He had recovered enough to make frequent day excursions outside the hospital, including a fishing trip, and doctors had said they hoped he could be home for Christmas.

That changed when he suffered the stroke. Blood-thinning drugs are often given to patients to prevent the clots that can cause strokes, but Tools could not be given high doses, because such drugs can also cause internal bleeding.

Doctors had said early on that strokes were among the risks for the artificial heart patients. The AbioCor was designed with a smooth plastic lining to decrease the chance of blood clots forming.

Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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