278 Comments
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Doctoryy Dilettanteyy Debbyy's avatar

Why are Wapo and NYT so concerned about a less-than-perfect-moral- exemplar of a man getting a brand new pig heart?

Those two organizations have been pumping their own pig heart blood for many years through their metaphorical veins and resent all the attention this man is receiving.

Cat's Paw's avatar

I would be unable to eat bacon

Brian Bixby's avatar

Grow new hearts in the lab.

They're working on that, and in fact the optimal transplant would be done using a heart grown from the patient's own stem cells, but we're still at least a decade away from that. We're much closer to be able to grow things like muscle tissue, intestines, and similar mostly-homogeneous tissues, and skin transplants from self-supplied stem cells is already a thing.

Make it required to OPT OUT of organ donation.

Agreed, and the religious fanatics who opt out should not be allowed on the transplant waiting list.

Brian Bixby's avatar

There is ongoing research on growing actual blood by cultured marrow cells, but it doesn't work yet.

Brian Bixby's avatar

It's more like Rump is a Stalinist.

Brian Bixby's avatar

The answer will depend on how good the victim's family's lawyer is.

Rickyphoo's avatar

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GrannysKnitting's avatar

can you imagine if they did it to (for example) a nun? 'Nun is denied human heart -pigs heart only available choice'. I don't agree with the moral character thing either but the howls of performative outrage would be worse if a 'good' person was denied a human heart and had to settle for an animal substitute (on another note, is the guy a member of a trans-bear swimming team? newsmax will probably want to know)

GrannysKnitting's avatar

I think they are not sure how long it will extend his life, so they picked someone on his last dregs to see if it will work (awful way to put it, but you know what I mean). I remember his doctor saying in an interview it may only last a week, or a month, they just aren't sure.

GrannysKnitting's avatar

one day, it will be available, like the 'cloned' organs from the patients own cells. All this angst and heartbreak will be a thing of the past, because we will be better able to repair ourselves. That's the good bit. The cynic in me is saying that it will only be available to those who can afford it

GrannysKnitting's avatar

that will probably be covered by the dr's running the trial - they won't want it to fail cos the patient was too poor to pay for the drugs he needs post op

GrannysKnitting's avatar

aye, laddie, ye hae th' right o' it

meh's avatar

Well, to be fair, Cheney started without one, so it was not so much a transplant as an upgrade.

meh's avatar

And it was his first human part :D

Brian Bixby's avatar

I think that depends on the future developments in robotic surgery. Once growing organs reliably is automated it shouldn't be more than an order of magnitude more expensive than lab-produced meat. The expensive part will be the implantation, if the process stays manual then it will continue to be expensive, if it can be automated then the price will be almost nothing. The great thing about automation is that once the process has been perfected one time then it's just copy/paste to every other surgery machine (at least of the same manufacturer) rather than years of studies, training, internship, practice, etc. of a surgeon.