When VAD Things Happen to Good People

In his book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Harold Kushner explores explanations for human pain and suffering. He notes that while many of the afflictions of the human condition are beyond our understanding, none of us are exempt from the common experience. Despite the original publication of this thesis more than 35 years ago, Kushner's musings draw parallels to the patient experience with mechanically assisted circulation. The underlying mechanism and management of several morbid and mortal left ventricular assist device (LVAD) complications are beyond contemporary understanding but are sufficiently frequent to be considered common. The paper by Soliman in this issue of Circulation adds clarity to the question about why VAD things happen to good people by defining pre-operative risk factors that predispose patients to the development of right heart failure following implantation of a left-sided mechanical blood pump.