Dakota Datebook:Finding Fen-Phen

July 8, 2019 — It was on this date in 1997 that CNN broke the news that the miracle combination of diet drugs known as fen-phen was causing leakage in users’ heart valves. What many don’t know is that the first person to figure it out was a cardiac sonographer at Fargo’s MeritCare named Pam Ruff.

According to an article for Science News, Ruff noted two unusual echo-cardiograms in December 1994. Am...