University of Texas Health Science Center - IATRO Yearbook (Houston, TX)

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A Tale of Two Hearts Signs appear upbeat for a pair of famous patients. hen William Schroeder was wheeled by the intensive-care unit at Humana Hospital in Louisville one evening last week, he did what appeared to be a classic double take. Through a glass window he had spied Murray P. Haydon, snoozing amid the beeping and flashing electronic monitors and tethered by eight-foot tubes to the 323-pound Utahdrive air-compressor unit that operates the Jarvik-7 mechanical heart. “Bill,” Margaret Schroeder ex- plained to her somewhat bewildered hus- band, “that’s another member of the club.” Haydon, a 58-year-old assembly-line worker at the Louisville Ford plant, had joined a very exclusive club indeed when, on Sunday, Feb. 17, he became the third person to receive a permanent artificial heart. He had suffered from severe congestive heart failure caused by cardiomyopathy, a dete- rioration of the heart muscle. Eventually he stopped responding to diuretics and digital- is, and by the time he was accepted as the second patient in Humana’s much-publi- cized artificial-heart program, he had only a few weeks to live. Still, Haydon was the healthiest of any- one to get the Jarvik-7 mechanical heart so far. The first, Dr. Barney B. Clark, had respiratory and other problems that led toa series of crises before he died after 112 days. Schroeder was in better health than Clark when he got his artificial heart last Nov. 25, but he had diabetes, advanced arteriosclero- sis and had undergone earlier coronary- bypass surgery that left scar tissue, thus complicating the operation. Haydon’s relatively stable condition could prove crucial—not only for his own chances of recovery, but for Humana’s arti- ficial-heart program. Clark suffered sei- zures and Schroeder has had a serious stroke, both problems quite possibly attrib- utable to the artificial heart. Should Hay- ie ; Ma E D i C i N E : oF ey an OY oe Passing time in New York’ Malpractice Insurers Are Ill atients aren’t the only sick things some New York doctors are worrying about these days. The New York-based Medical Liability Mutual Insurance Co. (MLMIC), which insures 35 percent of the state’s phy- sicians against malpractice claims, may be on its last legs; a dramatic rise in malprac- tice suits has left the company short at least $750 million to pay future claims. To stave off MLMIC’s failure, state regulators have authorized a 55 percent rate hike, boosting the average doctor’s 1985 premium to $16,000. If that doesn’t ease MLMIC’s problems, the state’s insurance department may have to take the company over. MLMIC is only the latest insurer ’ out of bed in the current malprget’ But more and more of the af€ MEDICI NE AIDS: A Growing ‘Pandemic’? nies are mutuals like MLM?“ doctors whom they ins” so-called “bedpan r percent of the ir ance market. ida, Mich‘ ward ir failv- TY reasonable rates, since many mutuals had relatively low expenses and weren’t in busi- ness to show a profit. As they netted higher- than-expected returns on their investment portfolios, moreover, some mutuals began to pay dividends and cut premiums. But growth in the number and size of malpractice claims has taken off again in recent years, and it has made the earlier crisis seem like a minor headache. All mal- practice carriers have faced rising losses, but as a result of certain practices, the mu- s Central Park: An inevitable explosion in the elderly population ETHAN HOFFMAN—ARCHIVE

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18A jouston Post Thurs., June 20, Didnt Sisko daairdisa lace INTERNATIONAL THE HOSTAGE CRISIS SOUTH AFRICA israel to hold ‘A Revolutionary Climate’ Shiites until situation calm Hijacking not a factor, A Wave of Campus EDUCATION t stresses A rll Protest on Apartheid S The world may soon learn the full scope of suffering from the gas- leak disaster at Union Carbide’s pesticide plant in Bhopal, India. Last week a federal judge named a three-man legal committee to s manage the lawsuits against the company and ordered attorneys to Bhopal: Counting the Victims prepare by next week a list of all the victims. The Indian govern- ment is conducting a house-to-house survey of the victims and will send the findings to its American lawyers; other lawyers plan to use a 45-megabyte computer to manage their list. Union Carbide has oO said it cannot negotiate a settlement until it knows the full extent of 4) the damage, so this data could set the stage for a quick settlement. “yy But both sides are still preparing for a protracted war: the victims’ +4) lawyers are readying a potentially embarrassing search through Union Carbide’s files, and the company may try to cite the Indian government as a codefendant. w) eS 58

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The Prince of Rock They call him “His Roy- al Badness’—and that’s meant as a compliment. At once erotic and messianic, Prince (right) is che most ex- citing, and enigmatic, rock idol of the ’80s. Page 72 Michael Jackson (Right) Madonna Phil Collins