Faculty Bibliography

Siegel comments on the exorbitant costs of prescription drugs. He discusses the current system's inability to consistently provide for a patient's medical needs.

David M. Oshinsky reviews the book "America and the Intellectual Cold Wars in Europe: Shepard Stone Between Philanthropy, Academy, and Diplomacy" by Volker R. Berghahn

In the 10 days since the first self-contained artificial heart was implanted at Louisville's Jewish Hospital, the device's manufacturer, Abiomed, and hospital officials have severely restricted news about the recipient's progress, in a policy that is drawing harsh criticism from leading medical ethicists. Abiomed has forbidden the surgeons who implanted the device to talk about the patient's condition, citing a need to protect his privacy. Jewish Hospital has referred all calls to Abiomed, but in recent days neither the company nor hospital officials have returned calls

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In the 10 days since the first self-contained artificial heart was implanted here, the device's manufacturer, Abiomed, and officials of Jewish Hospital have severely restricted news about the recipient's progress, in a policy that is drawing harsh criticism from leading medical ethicists. Abiomed's policy stands in sharp contrast to the way public information was handled in experiments with the Jarvik-7 artificial heart during the 1980s, when reporters were regularly given detailed information about recipients. Surgeons prepare the AbioCor artificial heart for implant in the world's first recipient of the self-contained artificial device. JOHN LAIR/ASSOCIATED PRESS

On Monday, the man was taken back to the operating room for a 30- minute procedure to drain bloody fluid that had accumulated around the AbioCor artificial heart. The bleeding was attributed to the anti-coagulant drugs he was receiving to prevent formation of blood clots in the artificial heart, said his doctors, Laman A. Gray Jr. and Robert D. Dowling. For nine hours last week, the man spoke with his family after the doctors removed from his windpipe a breathing tube that was connected to a ventilator. But he had to be reconnected to the ventilator because of fatigue

An unidentified diabetic man in his 50's became the first human to live with a self-contained artificial heart

The first recipient of a self-contained artificial heart was alert and doing well, said Dr. Laman H. Gray Jr., one of his surgeons in Louisville, Ky. ''He looks good,'' Dr

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The man who is living with the first fully implantable artificial heart talked with his family Wednesday night during a brief period when a breathing tube in his windpipe was removedand he was disconnected from a mechanical ventilator, his doctors said Thursday. The doctors had to reconnect the man to a ventilator after about nine hours because he became so fatigued while breathing on his own. The ventilator was reconnected about 11 p.m. Wednesday. Reconnecting the man to the ventilator was not unexpected, because patients with heart failure may need ventilator support for short intervals during recovery from major surgery, a hospital spokeswoman said