A closer look
The Jarvik-7 was pitched as a futuristic, life-saving cyborg heart, but the reality was closer to a steampunk torture device. Implanted permanently in 1982 into patient Barney Clark, the mechanical pump kept him alive, but at a horrific cost. The artificial heart was entirely powered by a loud, 400-pound pneumatic air compressor. Clark spent his remaining 112 days tethered to what was essentially a heavy industrial machine via tubes jutting out of his abdomen, suffering multiple strokes and endless infections before his body finally gave out.
