RT Journal
A1 Gustafson DH
T1 A systems engineer meets the system
JF JAMA
JO JAMA
YR 2013
FD January 16
VO 309
IS 3
SP 247
OP 248
DO 10.1001/jama.2012.176580
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.2012.176580
AB 
I had always exercised and eaten right and felt good. I hadn't had any warnings (at least none that I recognized) when my heart stopped at my health club in May 2007. But I got lucky: A police detective working out nearby administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation; the club's owner used the defibrillator, which was handy; the ambulance that got the call was only two blocks away. I survived and felt great for a few months. Then I began to deteriorate. My wife Rea and my friend Paul, a physician from Dartmouth, arranged a second opinion for me at a widely respected, more distant hospital, working through Rob, a hospitalist there. I reluctantly went to this hospital in 2008. My pericardium was removed. Four days later I coded again. I had CPR again, followed by 45 minutes of open heart massage. After this I was put on ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation), and then a BiVAD (biventricular assist device) was implanted. After 100 days of recuperation, I was healthy enough to be put on the waiting list for a heart transplant. After 33 days on the list, I got a new heart.