Pioneer heart patient dies

A sixty-four-year-old Israeli man who took part in a pioneering operation to help people dying of heart failure live without a heart transplant, has died.

He had a mechanical device implanted just days ago to try to keep his own damaged heart pumping.

Doctors had hoped the device would prove a permanent solution, but they said that while it had worked flawlessly, the man's overall condition deteriorated.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service