MEDICAL IMPLANTS: Recall for a Bum Ticker

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Seattle dentist Barney Clark became a household name in 1982 as the first patient to receive the Jarvik-7, the world's first artificial heart. Clark lived 112 days more, because of the polyurethane-and-metal pump. Five patients in all received the permanent implant; all died in less than two years. But the device helped buy time for 150 patients who relied on an implant until a heart transplant was possible. Last week the Food and Drug Administration stunned medical researchers by recalling the Jarvik heart, which is made by Symbion, a Tempe, Ariz., company.

Citing "serious deficiencies" in manufacturing quality, training and other areas, the FDA banned further use of the $22,000 mechanism. Symbion said last week that it will continue to sell the devices outside the U.S. American doctors have alternatives, however, since three other firms now make heart- pumping aids.