Cardiologist and joint inventor of the Swan-Ganz heart catheter

Jeremy Swan invented the Swan-Ganz cardiac catheter and was at the forefront of advances in cardiology for 40 years. A former president of the American College of Cardiology, Swan was an intellectual maverick who had vision, compassion, and wit. His cardiac catheter, made with a student of his called Willie Ganz, revolutionised heart surgery at its invention in 1968. It enabled bedside monitoring in critically ill patients by measuring heart output and capillary pressure in the lungs. This hugely improved the survival of patients with heart attacks, serious burns, acute respiratory failure, and many other conditions.

Swan was born in Sligo Town, Ireland, the son of two general practitioners, and educated at Castle Knock School. From there he went to St Vincent's College, Dublin, but …