Is Robert Jarvik a real doctor?

Yes, but barely. Some wonder why he’s qualified to pitch Lipitor:

Although he has an MD, he never did an internship or residency and never practiced medicine. And his Jarvik 7 artificial heart was not a big success.

Comments

Anonymous
I read the backstories on this, and I am a little disgusted. Whether or not Jarvik is the right pitchman for Lipitor is debatable.
However, I see no reason to attack him. Medical inventors with the courage to innovate should be praised, not chastised for not being “real doctors.” And though the Jarvik 7 was not the success it was hoped to be, it still greatly advanced knowledge. You can learn a lot from failure – in this case, the externalized pump design was found to promote infection, and the surfaces of the heart caused thrombogenesis. In the early 1980s, there simply wasn’t the technology to address these issues. He did the best he could with the technology of the day to help patients that were otherwise terminal.
Yes, he didn’t complete a residency, but i don’t see how serving time as a scut-boy would have helped his research.
In the CNBC article, they even critized him for starting med school in Italy and then transferring to U of Utah to finish. So whats wrong with that? At least he has a US diploma – many many docs are in practice with diplomas from unaccredited third-world medical schools.
In summary, give the guy a break. We need more innovators and fewer armchair criticizers. And if he wants to make a few bucks off of Lipitor, I say why not.
M.
I think that was a fine assessment, anonymous. I suppose I’m just used to advertisements being misleading? In any case, I tend to put more of the blame on Pfizer, rather than Jarvik.
Anonymous
i think the real confusion is the implication that jarvik is not just the inventor of the artifical heart, but a cardiac surgeon as well. in fact, devries implanted the heart in barney clark, while jarvik offered technical assistance. obviously the intent is to suggest that a cardiac surgeon trusts lipitor to protect his vessels and avoid coronary bypass. its misleading and deceptive andi fault pfizer, jarvik and the fda for their parts in allowing the ads to air.
Chris
Jarvik should not be able to pitch Lipitor under the guise of being a physician, as he never practiced medicine or completed a medical residency. By his own admission he was denied admission by 25 medical schools. In the ad he calls himself a doctor, but having never practiced, this is downright deception. The ads should be pulled immediately.
Incidentally I might enlighten the first “anonymous” that doctors from “unacredited third world medical schools” cannot practice in the U.S.
Christopher Boucher
Anonymous
Yet they do it every day in HMO’s and PPO’s and elsewhere.
I work for a large PPO, and they can and do, they just have to pass the state medical boards.

Is Robert Jarvik a real doctor?

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