Saving Hearts

Bill Clinton has a dicky heart. We know that because it's been in and out of repair since 2004, most recently just this week.

This latest mission into Bill Clinton's inner workings involved running a wire from his groin through an artery all the way up to very near his heart, at which point the tip of the wire was inflated, balloon-like, to prop open the sagging arterial walls and return normal blood flow. Not an unusual procedure for folks who've previously had a coronary bypass. A sort of tune-up, but somewhat dangerous and assuredly expensive, although the former President most likely did not pay out of pocket.

He probably was covered pretty well even during his earlier (circa 2004), riskier, and decidedly pricier quadruple bypass surgery.

Bill Clinton's heart problems began at an age (59) where he didn't qualify for Medicare. Lucky for him he was covered as a former President. It didn't hurt that he was also well-off financially, possibly enough so to afford insurance or the direct cost of care.

But what if the same series of heart issues beginning at the same age faced an average citizen of modest means? Would Joe Average be walking out of the hospital a day after having his artery ballooned and not be facing crippling bills? Or would he be holding on, popping nitro pills and avoiding exercise, horror films, and American Idol finales until old enough for Medicare to kick in?

Affordable or not, at least some of us can get these heart-saving procedures. And we owe that fact to a series of brave (and very bloody) pioneering surgeons. We owe thanks to their patients too, the earliest of whom failed to see their contributions acknowledged, due to their immediate, gory deaths.

Much of this history is related in the BBC production, 'Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery', and specifically the 'Bleeding Hearts' episode, which aired recently on our local public television channels.

The show portrays an interesting developmental arc, from early hurried attempts to fix jumping, twitching, and bleeding hearts before their owners died from blood loss and shock, to the latest where surgeons calmly operate on patients who are all but clinically dead: brain activity undetectable, hearts stopped, with nearly all blood drained from bodies cooled to temperatures usually seen only in morgues, or during night games at Candlestick.

I am certainly grateful to all these pioneers, doctors and patients alike. Quite a few of my remaining older relatives are still here due to bypass surgery. Genetics and a fondness for foods that could clog a whale's aorta mean I will likely need help too, someday.

I just hope I can hold out until Medicare kicks in ...