Recipient's
widow sues artificial heart maker
The Star Online
10/17/02
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The
widow of a man who died after almost 10 months with an artificial heart filed
suit
Wednesday against the maker of the device and the hospital where it was implanted,
saying her husband wasn't
adequately informed of the ordeal he would endure.
James Quinn, who died
Aug. 26 after suffering a stroke, came to regret taking part in the trial
of the self-contained
heart and had talked about suing several months before his death, said his
attorney, Alan Milstein.
Milstein said Quinn told
him, "No human being should have to go through what I'm going through.''
Rather than physical
pain, Milstein said, "I think he was referring more to just the act of
being an experimental
subject, the prodding and the probing and the feeling that you were just an
object being studied.''
The suit seeks damages
in excess of $100,000. Spokeswoman Molly Tritt said officials at Hahnemann
University
Hospital hadn't seen the suit and wouldn't comment. Messages left with the
heart manufacturer, Abiomed Inc., and
Tenet Healthcare, which owns Hahnemann, weren't immediately returned.
Quinn, 52, was implanted
with the AbioCor artificial heart Nov. 5. He suffered a stroke Aug. 23 and
was withdrawn
from life support three days later.
Of seven people implanted
with the plastic-and-titanium Abiocor heart, only one survives. The trial
began more than
a year ago. -AP
