Organ transplants are, it’s fair to say, one of the greatest medical miracles of the past half century. Thousands of people have been saved by receiving hearts, kidneys, and lungs from donors. In the past decade doctors have even performed face transplants. But now an Italian doctor says the complete transplantation of a human head is no more than two years away.
Dr.?Sergio Canavero says it will soon be possible to remove the head from one person and attach it to the decapitated body of another. He also says that both can then be reanimated. The good doctor also adds:
“Go to any neurology ward, ask to see someone with muscle-wasting disorders, and the answer [as to why the surgery makes sense] will be crystal clear. The greatest technical hurdle to such endeavor is of course the reconnection of the donor’s and recipient’s spinal cord.?It is my contention that the technology only now exists for such linkage.”
Not to rain on anyone’s parade, but are we really ready for something so radical? It sounds like something straight out of a horror movie. (Paging Dr. Frankenstein.) Taking one head and placing it another body? Excuse me while I shiver and vomit a little bit in my mouth.
OK, feeling better now. As you might guess, not everyone was dancing in the streets when Dr. Canavero made his announcement. Dr. Harry?Goldsmith, a clinical professor of neurological surgery at the University of California?said:
“This is such an overwhelming project, the possibility of it happening is very unlikely. I don’t believe it will ever work, there are too many problems with the procedure.”
What kind of problems? Well, it involves the whole severing and reattachment of the spinal cord, as was addressed by?Dr. Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist at New York University:
“To move a head on to someone else’s body requires the rewiring of the spinal cord. We don’t know how to do that. If we did there would be far fewer spinal cord injuries. Nor, despite Canavero’s assertions to the contrary, is medicine anywhere close to knowing how to use stem cells or growth factors to make this happen.”
Notice none of the doctors said the best reason was this: “It’s just so freaking weird”!
Don’t get me wrong, I think medical and scientific knowledge, along with exploration, are fantastic and have almost always brought us numerous benefits. I live by the mantra “Knowledge is always a good thing for society.” But head transplants? Is that something we really need?
The idea boggles the mind. Yep, I went there.
