“Half the people given mechanical heart pumps designed to avoid transplant surgery died within a year, according to a study suggesting the device’s popularity has grown faster than doctors’ skill.”Bloomberg News Among 1,500 patients given a heart pump instead of a heart transplant, 48 percent survived died within the first year. Whether these deaths were caused by the negligence of the medical staff or the device itself, is the question.
At hospitals installing at least five pumps a year, the risk of death dropped 31 percent, researchers said.
“The devices have great promise but are being used too often in the wrong patients and at the wrong hospitals — in people who are too sick to benefit, and at hospitals that do not treat enough patients to gain the expertise needed for their complex care — the researchers say.” according to the New York Times.