Barney Bailey Clark (January 21, 1921 – March 23, 1983) was an American dentist from Des Moines, Washington, who became the first human to live with a permanent artificial heart, the Jarvik-7. Clark lived for 112 days with the Jarvik-7, which was implanted into him on December 2, 1982, at the University of Utah Medical Center, before dying of multiple organ system failure.
Life before implant Clark was born on January 21, 1921, in Provo, Utah, to parents Moroni Jensen Clark and Ethel Bailey Clark."Barney B. Clark papers, 1910-1984" finding aid, University of Utah Libraries Special Collections, retrieved September 16, 2026. He was raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but drifted away from the religion in the 1940s and was inactive in it for much of his life, returning to the faith late in life."Mormon Firsts", LDS Living, May 15, 2012. After graduating from Provo High School in 1939,"In memory of Dr. Barney Clark", Provo Memorial Park, 1984, Historical Marker Database. Retrieved September 16, 2026. Clark joined the Utah National Guard, which was federalized during World War II. He then served as a bombardier in the United States Army Air Forces.
In 1944, Clark married Una Loy Mason, who he had known since the seventh grade. The couple had three children.Raine, George. "A Patient With Leading Credentials", New York Times, December 4, 1982. After the war, Clark attended Brigham Young University and attained a pre-med bachelor's degree in zoology in 1948, but he was rejected from the University of Utah School of Medicine. He then moved to Seattle, Washington and became a dentist in 1950, working for Dr. Homer Lockett and later opening his own practice. Clark retired in 1977.
Artificial heart recipient
By 1980, Clark was suffering from cardiomyopathy with an unknown cause. Conventional medical treatment, including a trial of the new drug amrinone, failed to stop his cardiac decomposition. At age 61, he was too old to qualify for a heart transplant,Saal, Mark. "Deterioration prompts early heart implant", Daily Utah Chronicle, December 2, 1982, front page. the maximum age for which was then 50.
In 1982, he visited the research laboratories at the University of Utah, where a team led by Dr. William DeVries had successfully implanted artificial hearts into lab animals. Due in part to the efforts of Dale Lott, DeVries' team had recently received the approval of the Food and Drug Administration to implant the Jarvik-7 artificial heart into a human patient who would otherwise imminently die from deterioration of the heart muscle. Clark was one of approximately 10 patients examined by the school's Artificial Heart Patient Evaluation Committee, consisting of DeVries, two cardiologists, a psychiatrist, a nurse, and a social worker, and was the first to receive their unanimous approval for the implant.Mims, Bob. "Jarvik-7: First Artificial Heart Implant Operation Slated", Associated Press, via the Huntsville Times, December 1, 1982, page B-6. Clark met the committee's strict psychological standards and was deemed capable of handling the strain and lifestyle limitations of living with an artificial heart, needed since a suicidal patient could easily cut open the pneumatic hoses powering the heart.
On November 29, 1982, Clark signed the initial consent form for the operation. He was then required to sign the form again 24 hours later after reflecting on the decision. Medical ethicist George Annas later criticized the consent form, which was 11 pages long, as "incomplete, internally inconsistent, and confusing", and based on the incorrect assumption "that Clark would either die on the operating table or return home in about ten days". No mechanism to terminate the experiment, or to allow Clark to die a dignified death if need be, was provided for.Annas, George. The Rights of Patients: The Basic ACLU Guide to Patient Rights, Springer Science+Business Media, 2012, page 147.
The implant operation was publicly announced (though Clark was not identified by name) on November 30, and it was scheduled to begin at 8:00 a.m. MST on December 2. In the days leading up to the operation, Clark's heartbeat became irregular. On December 1, his condition rapidly declined, and at 8 p.m. DeVries and his team decided to begin the operation as quickly as possible. The operation began at 11:27 p.m., with a cardiopulmonary bypass installed to maintain blood flow in the meantime. Clark's heart was removed at 12:07 a.m. December 2, and the installation of the Jarvik-7 began at 12:50. The bypass was removed at 4:09, leaving Clark entirely reliant on the Jarvik-7, and the seven-hour operation ended at 6:35 a.m. DeVries, known for listening to rock music while performing surgery, chose Joseph-Maurice Ravel's "Boléro" for Clark's operation."Click ... click ... click . . . the sound of an artificial heart adds new beat to the music of life", St. Petersburg Times, December 3, 1982, front page and pages 17-A and 20-A.
Clark recovered well at first, and on December 4, his condition was upgraded from "critical" to "serious but stable"."Barney Clark off critical list", Associated Press, via the Longview Daily News, December 4, 1982, page C3. However, that evening he developed pneumothorax in his lungs, which doctors said was unrelated to the implant, and underwent a second surgery to repair the ruptured air sacs."Fast surgery for Barney Clark", Associated Press, via the Thousand Oaks News-Chronicle, December 5, 1982, page 30. Shortly thereafter, he began to experience kidney failure, for which he was promptly treated. His condition improved steadily, but became critical again after suffering a series of seizures at about 5:45 a.m. December 7,"Barney Clark on critical list again", Associated Press, via the Hattiesburg American, December 7, 1982, page 7. which were blamed on the kidney treatment causing a chemical imbalance in his brain."Heart valve malfunctions", United Press International, via The Herald Journal, December 14, 1982, front page.
At 9:45 a.m. December 14, Clark's blood pressure suddenly dropped. An hour later, DeVries and his team began another operation, which determined that the Jarvik-7's mitral valve had ruptured, causing blood to flow back into the wrong chamber. Half of the artificial heart was replaced during the successful four-hour surgery."Half of Artificial Heart Replaced", Associated Press, via Newsday, December 15, 1982, page 3.
On December 18, Clark was well enough to be moved from his hospital bed to a chair, and his condition was upgraded again from critical to serious."'Stronger' Barney Clark taken off critical list", Associated Press, via the State Journal-Register, December 19, 1982, page 57. On December 22, he announced, "I want to get up", then walked from his bed to the chair with limited assistance."Barney Clark's gradual return to normality", Associated Press, via the Rochester Times-Union, December 23, 1982, page 2A. As he steadily recovered, it was hoped that he could leave the hospital by the end of January 1983, moving into a specially-prepared apartment nearby. However, the anticoagulants Clark needed to prevent clots from forming around the Jarvik-7 caused nosebleeds beginning on January 9. On January 18, he underwent another operation lasting two and a half hours to stop the nasal bleeding, which was successful."Barney Clark has surgery to halt nasal bleeding", Associated Press, via the State Journal-Register, January 19, 1983, page 26. At times, he suffered from "ICU psychosis" and could not remember why he was in the hospital."Doctors: Clark's OK after mental disorder", Associated Press, via the San Antonio Light, February 26, 1983, page 11C.
On February 14, Clark's condition was upgraded from "serious" to "fair", and he was moved out of the intensive care unit for the first time since the implant, moving into a private room within the hospital."Barney Clark is taken out of intensive care", Associated Press, via the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, February 15, 1983, page A7. However, while the artificial heart functioned perfectly, his lungs and kidneys remained too weak to support him, and he returned to the ICU the following day to be placed back on a respirator."Barney Clark returns to intensive care", Associated Press, via the Belleville News-Democrat, February 16, 1983, Section A, page 2. He was released from the ICU on February 24 and returned to the private room.
Clark began vomiting on the morning of March 3, and some of his vomit entered the lungs, causing him to contract aspiration pneumonia."Food particles in lungs trigger pneumonia for Barney Clark", Associated Press, via the Birmingham News, March 5, 1983, page 3A. The infection lasted weeks and ravaged his already weakened lungs, forcing him to be placed back on a respirator on March 16. It was accompanied by an intermittent fever. Starting on March 20, his kidney function began to deteriorate."Doctors 'concerned' by Barney Clark's fever", Associated Press, via the Elko Daily Free Press, March 22, 1983, page 7.
On the morning of March 23, despite the ongoing kidney failure, doctors said his condition was still "fair" and that they would not return him to the ICU."Barney Clark better as fever breaks", Associated Press, via the Las Cruces Sun-News, March 23, 1983, page 3A. Around noon that day, his blood flow dropped dramatically and doctors considered an operation to check the status of the artificial heart, but normal blood flow resumed on its own about 30 minutes later. In the early evening, Clark's condition began to deteriorate rapidly. All of his natural organs failed, and no neurological function could be detected. At 10:02 p.m., doctors turned off the Jarvik-7, which had continued pumping blood through Clark's body throughout the decline and was not considered a factor in his death. Clark was then declared dead."Man-made heart not to blame for death of Dr. Barney Clark", United Press International, via the Bowling Green Sentinel-Tribune, March 24, 1983, front page."Barney Clark Hailed By Doctors As Medical Pioneer", Sarasota Herald-Tribune, March 25, 1983, front page and page 2-A.
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