HEAD TRANSPLANT NOW IN OPERATING ROOM # 2

[TGHusker]

Ah, you thought the topic was about our dysfunctional congress.

 

 

Ok, you may want to read this after lunch or dinner.

 

What are the ethical dilemmas?

 

The bigger question is: Whose body do would you want your head on?

 

 

 

http://www.usnews.co...ead-transplants

 

A COUPLE OF QUOTES:

In what sounds like a science-fiction novel come to life, one scientist says he is close to being able to affix one person's head to another human body.

Italian scientist Sergio Canavero believes he has come up with an outline to successfully complete the first human head transplant in history, which could lead to solutions for those suffering from muscular dystrophy or tetraplegics with widespread organ failure.

 

Though the procedure's name suggests otherwise, the recipient would be receiving a new body, not a new head. Both the body-recipient and the body-donor's heads are severed before the recipient's is attached to a new body.

 

Once the spinal cords of the recipient and donor are successfully connected, the body's heart can be restarted, pumping blood into the brain, and "normal temperatures will be reached within minutes."

Canavero told U.S. News that should he receive the necessary funding – about $30 million – the surgery would be possible within two years.

Canavero says that there is still much work to be done – the spinal cord fusion needs to be tested, and he says he has not addressed the ethical aspects of the procedure.

Though the surgery is primarily intended for people with severe medical conditions, Canavero says it could open the door to a moral dilemma. A head transplant could provide a possible cure for those with conditions that leave the brain functioning while affecting the rest of the body, like progressive muscular dystrophies, or even cancer.

"These are a source of huge suffering, with no cure at hand," Canavero writes.

But people who simply want to cheat death could hypothetically undergo the surgery to acquire a younger body, he says.

"The problem is regulating a procedure that has the power to, I would say, disrupt society," Canavero says.

[huKSer]

[TGHusker]

Yea, something like that -

[RedRedJarvisRedwine]

Here's where the human cloning comes into play. Clone yourself with the sole purpose of using the younger body. I'm gonna start saving my pennies now!

[GSG]

I can see Hedley's head on Wifi's body

[ZRod]

Eventually a person's mind would succumb to old age though so it really couldn't be abused that long. Needless to say this is pretty interesting. I wonder, if you could fuse to severed spinal cords together from separate bodies, why you wouldn't be able to attempt the same procedure in the same body for people with paralysis.

[TonyStalloni]

Eventually a person's mind would succumb to old age though so it really couldn't be abused that long. Needless to say this is pretty interesting. I wonder, if you could fuse to severed spinal cords together from separate bodies, why you wouldn't be able to attempt the same procedure in the same body for people with paralysis.

 

If I understand most paralysis correctly, it occurs when there is damage to the upper cervical parts of the neck. If a persons back is broken below that point it doesn't usually result in paralysis. I'm thinking the fuse would happen in the mid back to avoid those issues.