Viking Björk

Viking Olov 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]

References

1. H, Ahn; Kim KH; Kim DJ; Jeong DS (2007-12-22). "Long-term experience with the Bjork–Shiley Monostrut tilting disc valve". J. Korean Med. Sci. 22 (6): 1060–4. doi:10.3346/jkms.2007.22.6.1060. PMC 2694640. PMID 18162723.
2. Obituary in Svenska Dagbladet, 22 February 2009
3. http://www.ctsnet.org/sections/newsandviews/transitions/articles/article-8.html