Heart pump effectiveness

NBC News Channel
Published: July 8, 2008

In the coming years, thousands of people with fatal diseases of the heart will continue to enjoy birthdays, weddings, and the company of grandchildren.

Heart pumps will add a decade or more to their lives, but these miracles of technology will also pose ethical dilemmas.

Two years ago, boater Richard Stowe could barely walk.

Richard and his wife Isa stowe fully appreciate his new lease on life.

"The life expectancy for such a patient is definitely less than one year," said Dr. Ulrich Jorde, a cardiologist.

At 76, this otherwise healthy former airline pilot is too old to get one of the few heart transplants available.

The Heart Mate 2 was designed to keep people alive until they could receive such a transplant.

The Heart Mate 2 functions through a high tech battery pack on the outside, which is connected to a small internal heart pump that supports an organ near failure after several heart attacks.

For a year and a half Stowe has been part of a nationwide trial to see if it can keep him alive with a quality of life indefinitely.

"Heart Mate 2 could last five to ten years," said cardiovascular surgeon Dr. Yoshifumi Naka

Added years of life provided by this device could have a profound impact on how we define retirement, pay for pensions, finance medicare and social security.

Bioethicist Robert Klitzman explains, "There are ethicists who say we should help young people get to 80, rather than help 80 year olds get to 85."

Klitzman says this device holds great promise and challenge.

An earlier model was bigger and more complicated.

Advances on this newer version are already in testing.

If it continues to work for stowe, how will he die?

"Do we want to have everyone in nursing homes because they have chronic long term debilitating diseases like alzheimer's disease, as oppposed to heart disease, which may unfortunately kill people quicker in some cases?" asks Klitzman.

Stowe will take that risk. He has quality of life.

"How long am i really going to last? Five to seven years at least," said Stowe. "I'm planning on 83 someplace in there."