Founder of Medtronic Implanted With Pacemaker.Business Editors & Medical Writers MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 7, 2001 Earl Bakken Earl E. Bakken is an American businessman and philanthropist. He founded Medtronic, where he developed the first wearable artificial pacemaker in 1957 as a result of a fatal problem at the University of Minnesota hospital. , co-founder and director emeritus of Medtronic, Inc., today announced that he was implanted with a Medtronic Kappa 700 pacemaker at North Hawaii Community Hospital North Hawaii Community Hospital is a 40-bed, full service hospital located in the town of Waimea on the Big Island of Hawaii. It opened in 1996 with the help of Earl Bakken and other members of the local community. on March 2, 2001. Bakken experienced a fainting episode and, upon examination, was determined to suffer from sinus bradycardia sinus bradycardia Cardiology Sinus-node dysfunction–sick sinus syndrome characterized by a normal P-wave axis of < 60 beats/min EKG Every P wave is followed QRS complexes , or at < 50 beats/min. See Sick sinus syndrome. Cf Sinus tachycardia. (slow heartbeat). Industry research suggests that bradycardia bradycardia: see arrhythmia. affects approximately 700,000 people in the United States, and more than 200,000 people in this country have pacemakers implanted each year to address the condition. Bakken co-founded Medtronic, the world's leading medical technology company, in Minneapolis in 1949. He invented the first wearable, transistorized cardiac pacemaker cardiac pacemaker A device that delivers a small electric shock to the heart to effect cardiac contraction at a pre-determined rate in 1957. Bakken retired as an officer of Medtronic in April 1989, relocating to the Big Island of Hawaii. In recent years, Bakken has continued his pioneering work in the confluence of mainstream and alternative medicine by leading efforts to build the North Hawaii Community Hospital in Kamuela, Hawaii. Bakken has left the hospital and is recovering at home. Medtronic, Inc., headquartered in Minneapolis, is the world's leading medical technology company, providing lifelong solutions for people with chronic disease. Its Internet address is www.medtronic.com. |
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