Heart Patient Schroeder Now Confined to Bed

Artificial heart recipient William J. Schroeder, who has been out of the hospital one month, has grown weaker and is bedridden at his specially equipped apartment, a Humana Hospital Audubon spokeswoman said today.

Schroeder, 53, showed signs of “progressive weakness” over the weekend and required a blood transfusion at his apartment, said Donna Hazle.

“He is somewhat listless and at this time bedridden,” she said in a statement. “Physicians are trying to determine the origin of this change in condition.”

The Jasper, Ind., man was discharged from the hospital April 6.

Implant surgeon William C. DeVries said that day that Schroeder would require blood transfusions for the remainder of his life, possibly as many as one a month.

DeVries, as well as members of Schroeder’s family, have said the implant patient has good days and bad days, apparently because of a series of strokes suffered Dec. 13 and mild seizures that followed.

Bob Irvine, Humana’s publicist, said today that doctors had not provided any more details on Schroeder’s condition.

Schroeder received his Jarvik-7 artificial heart Nov. 25, becoming the world’s second recipient of a permanent mechanical heart. He spent 133 days in Audubon before moving into the apartment with his wife, Margaret.

They have been out of the apartment occasionally for short trips in the Louisville area.