Obit watch: May 30, 2025.

Bernard B. Kerik, former commissioner of the New York Police Department.

He was in charge on September 11th.

Like the mayor himself, Mr. Kerik received kudos for his response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He and Mr. Giuliani rushed to the site to speed the evacuation of the World Trade Center. They were showered by debris from the collapse of the towers and were temporarily trapped in a nearby building.

He was also convicted of several crimes, including tax fraud, and served three years of a four year federal sentence. He was pardoned by Trump in 2020.

NYT obit for Harrison Ruffin Tyler (share link). Previously.

Dr. Robert Jarvik, the artificial heart guy.

By the mid-1980s, medical ethicists and theologians were debating whether artificial hearts improved life or extended a painful decline toward death. At a 1985 symposium of religious figures and doctors in Louisville, Ky., a Jesuit theologian noted that in the Christian view, “life is a basic good but not an absolute good,” adding, “There is a limit on what we may do to preserve our lives.”

…

In January 1990, the Food and Drug Administration withdrew its approval of the Jarvik-7, citing concerns about the manufacturer’s quality control.
In a 1989 interview with Syracuse University Magazine, Dr. Jarvik admitted that his belief that the Jarvik-7 was advanced enough to be used widely on a permanent basis was “probably the biggest mistake I have ever made.”
Still, he defended his work. Of the five recipients of the permanent Jarvik-7, he told the magazine, “These were people who I view as having had their lives prolonged,” adding that they survived nine months on average when some had been expected to live “no more than a week.”

…

In the late 1980s, his company, Jarvik Heart Inc., began developing smaller, less obtrusive implements, known as ventricular assist devices. Unlike the Jarvik-7, these devices do not replace a diseased heart but assist in pumping blood from the lower chambers of the heart to the rest of the body. One such device, the Jarvik 2000, is about the size of a C battery. A pediatric version, called the Jarvik 2015, is roughly the size of an AA battery.
According to a 2023 study of the artificial heart market, a descendant of the original Jarvik-7, now owned by another company, is called the SynCardia Total Artificial Heart. It is designed primarily for temporary use in patients who face imminent death while awaiting transplants. The study found that the device had been implanted in more than 1,700 patients worldwide.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 30th, 2025 at 12:04 pm and is filed under Cops, History, NYPD, Obits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

One Response to “Obit watch: May 30, 2025.”

  1. Pigpen51 says:
    May 30, 2025 at 3:04 pm

    Being born in 1960, I remember quite well the Jarvik-7 and all the accompanying attention that was paid to it by the media. It was quite a thing back then. But if I remember correctly, the main thought of the artificial heart was to prolong life until a donor organ could be found.
    This reminds me of the doctor who came up with the idea of ulcers being caused by the H.Pylori Bacteria. And how he was shunned like Galileo or Copernicus.
    Until the evidence became so overwhelming that it could not be ignored.
    I myself was diagnosed with an ulcer when I was a Deacon in a Baptist church going through problems when I was only in my 20’s. The treatment then was a 30 day course of an antibiotic along with PeptoBismal tablets at the same time.
    It worked like charm and my ulcer was fixed. The problems in the church were not so easily fixed.