On Nov. 20, 1979, Dr. Robert Anderson from the University Hospital injected Fluosol, a blood substitute developed in Japan, into a Jehovah’s Witness individual who had refused a regular blood transfusion on religious grounds. The patient, who was not identified, received two transfusions totaling six pints of the milky blood substitute. 

This was the first time artificial blood was used in the United States. Fluosol, manufactured by Green Cross, was discontinued due to side effects with limited success.