Viking Björk
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Viking Olaf Björk (3 December 1918, Sunnansjö, Dalarna – 18 February 2009) was a Swedish cardiac surgeon.
In 1968, he collaborated with American engineer Donald Shiley to develop the first "monostrut tilting disc valve" used to replace the aortic or mitral valve.[1]
The Bjork–Shiley heart valve was manufactured by Pfizer after they bought the Shiley company in 1979. In 1980 Björk wrote to Pfizer threatening to publish cases of valve failures — often fatal to the patients — unless corrective action was taken. This eventually led to long lawsuit that involved the recall of all existing valves and Pfizer allocating up to US$20 million to pay compensation.
Björk died on 18 February 2009.[2][3]
[edit] References
- ^ H, Ahn; Kim KH, Kim DJ, Jeong DS (2007-12-22). Long-term experience with the Bjork–Shiley Monostrut tilting disc valve. PMID 18162723.
- ^ Obituary in Svenska Dagbladet, 22 February 2009
- ^ http://www.ctsnet.org/sections/newsandviews/transitions/articles/article-8.html
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