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Legacies: Collecting America's History at the Smithsonian, by Steven Lubar and Kathleen M. Kendrick
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Jarvik-7 artificial heart, 1985Jarvik-7 artificial heart, 1985

In August 1985 at the University Medical Center of the University of Arizona, Dr. Jack G. Copeland implanted this Jarvik-7 artificial heart in Michael Drummond, a patient awaiting a heart transplant. The Jarvik-7 kept Drummond alive until a donor organ became available one week later. Within months of the surgery, the medical center offered this artifact to the Smithsonian, which accepted it as a successful example of "spare parts"—devices or machines designed to function in place of a body part or organ—and an illustration of one of the controversies accompanying advanced medical technology.

See also: Medical History, Popular Objects

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