{{Short description|Longest surviving artificial heart transplant patient in the UK}} {{about||the English footballer|Peter Houghton (footballer)|the American actor|Peter Hooten}} {{Use British English|date=February 2026}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = Peter Houghton | image = | caption = | birth_date = 20 August 1938 | birth_place = | death_date = {{death date and age|2007|11|25|1938|8|20|df=y}} | death_place = Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham, England | occupation = Psychotherapist | known_for = Patient with a left ventricular assist device | title = | spouse = Diane | website = }} '''Peter Houghton''' (20 August 1938 – 25 November 2007) was the longest surviving artificial heart transplant patient in the UK.<ref>{{cite news |url = https://www.theguardian.com/obituaries/story/0,,2229000,00.html |work = The Guardian |title = Peter Houghton |first = Caroline |last = Richmond| access-date = 4 January 2008 | location=London | date=18 December 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite episode |title = Last Word |url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/lastword_04jan2008.shtml |series = Last Word | series-link = Last Word |network = BBC |station = BBC Radio 4 |airdate = 2008-01-04}}</ref>
Houghton was implanted with a Jarvik 2000 heart pump at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, England, by professor Stephen Westaby, on 20 June 2000 owing to severe heart failure. After the operation, the left ventricular assist device worked continuously supporting his heart, breaking the previous world duration record on 11 August 2004 at 1,513 days.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.jarvikheart.com/basic.asp?id=63 |title = Jarvik 2000: The First Lifetime-Use Patient |publisher = Jarvik Heart, Inc |access-date = 4 January 2008 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101121172612/http://www.jarvikheart.com/basic.asp?id=63 |archive-date = 21 November 2010 }}</ref>
The record represents the survival of both the person and the artificial heart. A few individuals have lived longer than 1,512 days but with two artificial hearts, having the first surgically replaced due to failure or wear.
Houghton was the first person in the world to be given an artificial heart for permanent use rather than as a bridge to transplantation.
An educated psychotherapist, Houghton has written a book, "The World Within Me," in which he contemplates how receiving the transplant challenges his devout Catholicism. He also reports that, ironically, the heart transplant has left him largely devoid of emotion.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/11/AR2007081101390_pf.html His Heart Whirs Anew]</ref>
He died on November 25, 2007, at Birmingham's Selly Oak Hospital at the age of 69. The cause of death was given as multiple organ failure.<ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/west_midlands/7125387.stm Artificial heart man dies aged 68]</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Houghton, Peter}} Category:People from Birmingham, West Midlands Category:2007 deaths Category:1938 births Category:Heart transplant recipients Category:Deaths from multiple organ failure