Schroeder Gets Doctor’s Permission to Be Home by Thanksgiving

Artificial heart patient William J. Schroeder was told by his doctor that he can leave the hospital with his mechanical pump, and his family said they hope to have him home in Jasper, Ind., by Thanksgiving, it was reported Friday.

“Something could happen tomorrow that would prevent it. But we’re definitely looking toward that possibility,” his eldest son, Mel, said.

Dr. William C. DeVries, who implanted Schroeder’s compressed air-powered pump last year on Nov. 25, said Schroeder has shown signs that he is recovering more rapidly from two series of strokes suffered since the surgery and wants to be reunited with his wife, Margaret.

The first series of strokes in December impaired Schroeder’s speech and memory.

First to Leave

Schroeder became the first recipient of a permanent artificial heart to leave a hospital last spring, first by riding around town in a customized van and later by moving into a specially equipped apartment across the street from Humana Hospital Audubon.

DeVries said that Schroeder, 53, is aware of the risks of being 90 miles from his specialists. The farther he is from the hospital the greater the chance the implant team would be unable to save him in an emergency, he said.

“He’s willing to accept that risk to go back home. And I’m really happy to have him do that if that’s what he wants,” DeVries said in a story in Friday’s editions of the Louisville Times.

Doing More for Himself

Mrs. Schroeder, 53, pampered her husband while living with him in the apartment, but he has been doing more for himself in the last three weeks, DeVries said.

Schroeder, a federal retiree, has received 24-hour nursing care at the hospital. Much of the same attention will be available in Jasper, but it will take four to six weeks to train nurses and technicians to operate his special equipment, including the Utahdrive air compressor that powers the plastic-and-metal heart.

DeVries’ other surviving artificial heart patient, Murray P. Haydon of Louisville, remains in Audubon’s coronary care unit, where he requires the assistance of a respirator. He received his heart Feb. 17.