“Blue babies” can?t talk. Fifty years ago when something went wrong with the development of a newborn?s heart, the infant?s life expectancy was one year.

Even 30 years ago, doctors did not operate, said Dr. Richard Jonas, chief of cardiovascular surgery at Children?s National Medical Center in Washington. Doctors performed some outpatient procedures to try to improve the oxygen mixture in their blood, then sent “blue babies” home.