John Hay

Biography

• Born November 25, 1873 in Birkenhead, England
• 1895 – Diploma in Medicine, University College of Liverpool
• 1896 – MBChB, Victoria University of Manchester, with honours
• 1901 – MD, Victoria University of Manchester
• 1904 – MD, University of Liverpool
• 1906 – Assistant physician to Liverpool Royal Infirmary
• 1907 – Six months post-graduate study under Wenckebach at Freiburg
• 1906-1913 Editor of the Liverpool Medico-Chirurgical Journal
• 1907 – Founding member of the Association of Physicians
• 1914 – Founded the Heart Clinic at Liverpool Royal Infirmary
• 1915 – Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians
• 1922 – Founding member of the Cardiac Club (Renamed the British Cardiac Society in 1937)
• 1924-1934 Chair of medicine at University of Liverpool
• 1928 – Chairman of the Cardiac Club, also in 1932 and 1948
• 1948 – President of the Association of Physicians
• Died April 21, 1959 in Bowness-on-Windermere aged 85

Notable as the many academic distinctions were that came to him during his long life, his greatest achievement was the friendly warmth and youthful sincerity of his personality.

Lancet 1959

Medical Eponyms

Second-degree Atrioventricular block

• Mobitz Classification; (1924)
• Mobitz type I (Wenckebach) (1899)
• Mobitz type II (Hay) (1906)

1906 – Hay kymographically recorded simultaneous jugular venous and radial arterial pulses of a 65-year-old man with a slow pulse. He observed that the a-to-c intervals of the jugular venous waves remained constant until an a wave occurred that was not followed by the c wave or a radial pulse. The pause was equal to 2 atrial pulse-wave intervals

1906 – Wenckebach ** acknowledged Hay’s report, and suggested that the pauses found in Hay’s patient were the result of both abnormal AV conduction and abnormal ventricular excitability. [Archiv für Physiologie 1906:332]

**Hay had also spent six month’s studying with Wenckebach at Freiburg.

1924 – Woldemar Mobitz reported ECG correlations of the abnormal jugular wave findings as originally described by Wenkebach and Hay, and classified the AV block into two types

Controversies

• Regarding date of death: 21st March 1959 (Munks Roll); 23rd April 1959 (Lancet) and 21st April 1959 (Clinical cardiology)
• Rare, unfounded claims by compatriots of Hay suggest he discovered both type I and II second-degree AV block

Major Publications

• Hay J. Remarks on the pathology of bradycardia. Br Med J. 1905;2(2338):1034–1036
• Hay J. Bradycardia and cardiac arrhythmia produced by depression of certain of the functions of the heart. Lancet 1906;167(4299):139-143
• Hay J, Moore SA. Stokes-Adams disease and cardiac arrhythmia. Lancet 1906;168(4341):1271-1276
• Hay J. Paroxysmal tachycardia. Edinburgh Medical Journal 1907;21:40-58
• Hay J. Graphic methods in heart disease. 1909
• Hay J. The vagaries of the auricles. Liverpool medico-chirurgical journal 1913;33:88-100
• Hay J. Two cases of auricular flutter. Lancet 1913;182(4701):986-989
• Hay J. Prognosis in patients presenting rapid action of the heart. Lancet 1921;198(5119):750-753
• Hay J. The action of quinidine in the treatment of heart disease. Based on the experiences of certain members of the Cardiac Club. Lancet 1924;204(5272):543-545
• Hay J. The thyrotoxic heart (The first Strickland Goodall Lecture at the Society of Apothecaries of London). Lancet 1936;228(5911):1377
• Hay J. The Ultimate Prognosis of Coronary Occlusion. Proc R Soc Med. 1934 Dec; 28(2): 129–140

References

Biography

• Biography: John Hay. Munk’s Roll : Volume V.
• Obituary. John Hay. Br Med J 1959;1:1190
• Obituary. John Hay. Lancet 1959;1:273(7079):946-947
• Bibliography. Hay, John 1873-1959. WorldCat Identities

Eponymous terms

• Cowan J. Some notes on the Cardiac Club. Br Heart J. 1939 Jan; 1(1): 97–104.
• Bramwell C. John Hay and the founders of the Cardiac Club. Br Heart J I965;27:849-855
• Langendorf R, Pick A. Atrioventricular block, type II (Mobitz) its nature and clinical significance. Circulation 1968;38:819-821
• Upshaw CB, Silverman ME. John Hay: discoverer of type II atrioventricular block. Clin Cardiol. 2000 Nov;23(11):869-71.
• Barold SS, Lüderitz B. John Hay and the earliest description of type II second-degree atrioventricular block. Am J Cardiol. 2001 Jun 15;87(12):1433-5.
• Silverman ME, Upshaw CB Jr, Lange HW. Woldemar Mobitz and His 1924 Classification of Second-Degree Atrioventricular Block. Circulation. 2004 Aug 31;110(9):1162-7
• Cadogan M. History of the Electrocardiogram. LITFL
• Cadogan M. History of Second-degree Atrioventricular block. LITFL