Abigail Zuger: “When it comes to drug ads, we are used to actorly actors, with full heads of hair and such appealing charisma that we want to be near them “” or to become them ourselves. Or conversely, we expect real doctors “” our own doctors, with our own individual best interests at heart, despite that Lipitor pen protruding from their pockets.

And such was the confusion engendered by the hybrid neither-of-the-above Dr. Jarvik that the escalating chorus of disapproval actually, incredibly, argued for the status quo: Dr. Jarvik may design artificial hearts, but if he is not a “real” cardiologist, with real patients and a real prescription pad, then what qualifies him, the critics asked, to recommend this or any other drug?”