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Flatline

7 minutes

How the future of treating heart disease might mean having no heartbeat

The heartbeat is synonymous with human life, but could we possibly live without one? Flatline tells the extraordinary story of Dr Bud Frazier and Dr Billy Cohn of the Texas Heart Institute, who in March of 2011 performed a continuous-flow artificial heart transplant to extend the life of a dying man. In doing so, they proved that it was possible for a person to live without a pulse. Directed by the US filmmaker Jeremiah Zagar, this short documentary explores how some advances in medical science and technology brush up against the limits of what we view as possible, making us reconsider what it means to be human.

Director: Jeremiah Zagar

Producer: Jeremy Yaches

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Support Aeon

Become a Friend for $5 a month or Make a one-off donation

Become a Friend of Aeon or Make a donation

Aeon is a registered charity committed to the spread of knowledge. Our mission is to create a sanctuary online for serious thinking.
But we can’t do it without you.

Aeon is a registered charity committed to the spread of knowledge and a cosmopolitan worldview.
But we can’t do it without you.

Essay/
Genetics
Haunted by history

War, famine and persecution inflict profound changes on bodies and brains. Could these changes persist over generations?

Pam Weintraub

Essay/
Medical Research
Viral rescue

When antibiotics fail, could phage therapy succeed? The germ’s-eye view of infection might open up revolutionary treatments

Emily Monosson