ABSTRACT
The case of the artificial heart centers on the implanting of a total mechanical cardiac replacement, which remained for sixty-four hours, in a patient with terminal heart disease. A more detailed history of the intricate events in the laboratory, the operating room, and the clinic is prerequisite to an analysis of the general implications of the case of the artificial heart. The complex historical sequence of roles that Dr. Michael DeBakey, Dr. Denton A. Cooley, and Dr. Domingo Liotta played in the development and implantation of the artificial heart raised a number of factual questions with ethical import. By 1964 the Baylor group had developed and tested a second artificial heart model this one designed to provide, complete replacement of the ventricles. DeBakey launched investigative work at Baylor and began efforts to persuade the government to fund artificial heart research.
