Longest-Living Recipient of an Artificial Heart Dies : Schroeder Dies After 620 Days on Artificial Heart

William J. Schroeder, the last and longest-living permanent artificial heart recipient, who survived three strokes while on the mechanical pump, died today, a hospital spokeswoman said. He was 54.

Schroeder, the second person to have his heart replaced with the plastic-and-metal pump, survived more than 20 months with the experimental device. He outlived the four other recipients as the Jarvik-7 clicked in his chest for 620 days.

Schroeder died at 1:35 p.m., said Donna Hazle, a spokeswoman for Humana Hospital Audubon.

Dr. William C. DeVries implanted the device Nov. 25, 1984, during a 6 1/2-hour operation.

Schroeder faced the uncertainties of his future with down-home good cheer, but a series of strokes in December, 1984, left him depressed at times and with impaired speech and memory.

In the days after the implant, the retired Army civilian employee from Jasper, Ind., quaffed a beer, pronouncing it “the Coors cure.” When President Reagan called with get-well wishes, Schroeder told the commander in chief that he had been “getting a runaround” in his attempts to win Social Security benefits. Schroeder’s check was delivered the next day.

On the 18th day of recuperation, however, Schroeder suffered the first in a series of strokes. His memory and speech were impaired and his right limbs paralyzed temporarily.

Schroeder’s condition reached a low by February, 1985, when Dr. Allan Lansing, chairman of the Humana Heart Institute International, said the patient was so weak and ill that he might never leave the hospital.

But by March 16, 1985, his condition was improving, and he moved into a specially equipped Humana-owned apartment on April 6, 1985.

On May 6, a month after his release, Schroeder suffered another stroke and returned to the hospital, where he remained until Aug. 4, when doctors allowed him to return briefly to Jasper for a celebration of its German heritage.

Doctors had hoped that Schroeder might be able to live again in Jasper by Thanksgiving, 1985, but another stroke Nov. 10 sent him back to the hospital, where he remained until his death.