Mr Robert Tools, who five months ago became the world's first recipient of an implanted artificial heart, has died.
The Jewish Hospital in Louisville, where he received the implant on July 2nd, said Mr Tools (59) died hours after it announced he had suffered multiple organ failure.
At the time of the surgery, doctors said they expected him to live one month.
Mr Tools developed abdominal bleeding because of continuing anti-coagulation problems related to his diabetes, the doctors said.
The hospital said the deterioration in his condition was not caused by complications or a malfunction of the AbioCor heart device.
"I realise that death is inevitable," Mr Tools, who was diabetic, said in August. "But I also realise that if there is an opportunity to extend [life], you take it."
"I had a choice. I could sit at home and die or come here and take a chance. I decided to come here and take a chance," he said.
"The biggest thing is getting used to not having a heartbeat," he said. "I have a whirring sound. And that makes me realise that I'm alive because I can hear it without a stethoscope."
"Prior to coming to Jewish Hospital, Bob would have faded away slowly at home," his wife, Carol Tools, said in a statement.
"But after our decision to participate in this experimental procedure, he has been able to make a difference for mankind, enjoy some of his favourite things in life, and experience a bit of notoriety - and for Bob, nothing could have been better."
"Bob and I were able to participate in a lot of fun activities over the past couple of months, more so than in the past few years. He was able to enjoy a better quality of life than we could ever had imagined," she said.
The AbioCor clinical trial is designed to test whether the device can extend life for patients with end-stage heart failure, who have no other clinical option, and provide them with a good quality of life.
Patients accepted into the trial must suffer from otherwise untreatable bi-ventricular heart failure, be ineligible for heart transplantation and have a high probability of dying within 30 days.
Earlier this week, the sixth patient to receive the artificial heart died from uncontrolled bleeding within 20 hours of the surgery that implanted the device. The patient, identified only as a man suffering from heart failure, died despite efforts to stop the bleeding by surgeons from the Texas Heart Institute and St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston.