According to the article, “Heart Device Is Approved By F.D.A.”, from the New York Times, the artificial heart, made by SynCardia, has been approved by the F.D.A. for temporary use. With this approval, its usage will be for patients on the waiting list for a natural heart implant. Initially though, it is limited to patients that are suffering from irreversible failure of both of their ventricles (Feder 2). The artificial heart is a mechanical pump that maintains the body’s blood circulation, in place of the natural human heart. Before the permanent artificial heart, there was the mechanical heart. It was used, generally for two to three months. Extended use of the mechanical heart lead to damaging of he blood cells, that could possibly lead to death. The developments of permanent artificial hearts were aided by the creation of new synthetic materials in the 1970’s. The first permanent artificial heart was the Jarvik-7. It is an aluminum-and-plastic, permanent artificial heart, designed by Robert K. Jarvik. Gradually, scientist were able to design smaller, more efficient artificial hearts that could be completely implanted into the body because of improvements in various components such as the batteries and microcompressors (Artificial Heart 1). The approval of the artificial heart will be a help to the shortage in organ donors, but it is improbable that it will augment the organ supply to match the need (Lewis 208). Unfortunately, 17 of the more than 75,000 people, waiting for an organ to become available die each day and the number is steadily increasing (Osterwiel). Although, it may not sufficiently change the need for organs, initially, further advancements of the artificial heart may contribute to an adequately reduced need for organs.