Maurice Wilburne; Cardiologist, Coronary Care Pioneer

Dr. Maurice Wilburne, 83, cardiologist and pioneer of hospital coronary care units. A veteran of World War II, Wilburne participated in the 1940s in the nation’s first research on cholesterol and its possible significance to health. In 1962, he first proposed to a American Medical Assn. meeting in Chicago that hospitals set up special wings or rooms where coronary patients could be constantly monitored electronically. Many heart attack victims, he said, succumbed needlessly even though they had hearts that were “too good to die.” Wilburne was also an early leader in teaching closed-chest heart resuscitation, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, to the public. He was a professor of cardiology at USC, a director of the Los Angeles County Heart Assn. and senior member of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center staff. On Nov. 17 in Los Angeles.