Tools, Robert
(born: 1942 - died: 2001)Robert Tools was born in Mobile, AL and lived in Franklin, KY the last five years of his life. Tools was the first human to receive the fully contained, two pound artificial heart, AbioCor, developed by Abiomed in Massachusetts.
Tools suffered from renal failure and diabetes, which made him ineligible for a heart transplant; he was given only a couple of months to live. He received his artificial heart on July 2, 2001, at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, KY. Tools survived for 151 days with his new heart. The published accounts of Tools's new heart were voted Top Story of the Year in Kentucky.
For more see the CNN story, "Heart transplant pioneer dies," 9/2/2001; "It was great...Absolutely great," Lexington Herald-Leader, 12/24/2001, p. B1; Michael Romano, "That giant whirring sound you hear is either an artificial heart or Louisville's Jewish Hospital cashing in on being first," 9/10/2001, on the ModernHealthcare website; and L. K. Altman, "Man with artificial heart dies," New York Times, 12/01/2001, section A, p.10 (online).
