Last US polio patient using iron lung dies at 78
Martha Lillard, who relied on an iron lung for over 60 years after contracting polio as a child, died at her home in Oklahoma at age 78. She was the last person in the United States to depend on the now-obsolete ventilator for daily survival. Her death marks the end of an era in medical history and underscores the life-saving impact of polio vaccines.