John Jay Osborn (1917–2014) was an American physician who made contributions to the early use of

cardiopulmonary bypass Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) or heart-lung machine, also called the pump or CPB pump, is a machine that temporarily takes over the function of the heart and lungs during open-heart surgery by maintaining the circulation of blood and oxygen throug ...

(CPB) during heart surgery and to the postoperative care of such patients. He was a faculty member at the

Stanford University School of Medicine The Stanford University School of Medicine is the medical school of Stanford University and is located in Stanford, California, United States. It traces its roots to the Medical Department of the University of the Pacific, founded in San Fra ...

Early life

Born in Detroit and raised in Manhattan, Osborn was the son of Major General

Frederick Osborn Major General Frederick Henry Osborn CBE (March 21, 1889 – January 5, 1981) was an American philanthropist, military leader, and eugenicist. He was a founder of several organizations and played a central part in reorienting eugenics in a ...

, a military officer who helped to develop the

G.I. Bill The G.I. Bill, formally the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I. (military), G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in ...

. He was a descendant of

John Jay John Jay (, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, diplomat, signatory of the Treaty of Paris (1783), Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served from 1789 to 1795 as the first chief justice of the United ...

and Cornelius Vanderbilt. He earned a biology degree from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

and then graduated from the

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) is the medical school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Established in 1893 following the construction of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, th ...

. Osborn entered the U.S. Army as a medical officer during World War II. Before he left for the army, he had submitted a paper for publication based on a study he had conducted with dogs, showing that the dogs could survive deep hypothermia. Osborn received a letter from eminent cardiac surgeon

Alfred Blalock Alfred Blalock (April 5, 1899 – September 15, 1964) was an American surgeon most noted for his work on the medical condition of shock as well as tetralogy of Fallot – commonly known as blue baby syndrome. He created, with assistance from ...

asking for some revisions on his paper, but by this time Osborn was lying in a tent in the Philippines during a downpour, so he could not complete work on the paper. After two years with the U.S. Army, he completed a residency at

New York University School of Medicine The New York University Grossman School of Medicine is a medical school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1841 and is one of two medical schools of the university, the other being the NYU G ...

, where he developed an interest in understanding blood oxygenation.

Career

In 1954, Osborn moved westward to work at

Stanford University Medical School The Stanford University School of Medicine is the medical school of Stanford University and is located in Stanford, California, United States. It traces its roots to the Medical Department of the University of the Pacific, founded in San Fran ...

; one source described him as " eking refuge from the blueblood New York aristocracy into which he was born." In California, Osborn collaborated with cardiac surgeon Frank Gerbode on the development of a heart-lung bypass machine that would allow open-heart surgery. Gerbode and Osborn's first open-heart surgery using CPB (a repair of a

ventricular septal defect A ventricular septal defect (VSD) is a defect in the ventricular septum, the wall dividing the left and right ventricles of the heart. It's a common heart problem present at birth ( congenital heart defect). The extent of the opening may vary ...

) was completed in 1956. In 1958, when physicians were still skeptical of open-heart surgery and CPB, Osborn and Gerbode arranged to have a heart surgery televised before a Bay Area audience of 1.2 million people. The patient, an eight-year-old boy known only as Tommy, had been born with a hole in his heart. Osborn became a specialist in

intensive care medicine Intensive care medicine, usually called critical care medicine, is a medical specialty that deals with seriously or critically ill patients who have, are at risk of, or are recovering from conditions that may be life-threatening. It includes p ...

, and he became interested in the postoperative care of cardiac surgery patients. He was a member of the

Society of Critical Care Medicine A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soc ...

when the group was founded. The

Osborn wave A J wave — also known as Osborn wave, camel-hump sign, late delta wave, hathook junction, hypothermic wave, K wave, H wave or current of injury — is an abnormal electrocardiogram finding. J waves are positive deflections occurring at the ju ...

, a unique finding on the EKG tracings of hypothermic patients, is named for him.

Personal life

In 1944, Osborn married his first wife, Anne, who died in 2004. The couple enjoyed sailing a 36-foot

brigantine A brigantine is a two-masted sailing vessel with a fully square-rigged foremast and at least two sails on the main mast: a square topsail and a gaff sail mainsail (behind the mast). The main mast is the second and taller of the two masts. Ol ...

out of the

San Francisco Yacht Club The San Francisco Yacht Club is a yacht club located in Belvedere, California, and the oldest on the Pacific Coast. They were formerly located in San Francisco. History Founded in 1869, the San Francisco Yacht Club is the oldest club on the Pa ...

. They were the parents of seven children, including

John Jay Osborn Jr. John Jay Osborn Jr. (August 5, 1945 – October 19, 2022) was an American author, lawyer, law professor, and author of '' The Paper Chase'', a bestselling novel published in 1971, and other works. Early life and education Osborn was born in Bos ...

, an author and lawyer. After Anne's death, Osborn married his second wife, Sheret. Osborn died in 2014 after he fell and broke his hip.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osborn, John Jay 1917 births 2014 deaths American physicians Intensivists Princeton University alumni Johns Hopkins School of Medicine alumni Stanford University School of Medicine faculty United States Army personnel of World War II