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vrts t1_itk1r1n wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in The cutting-edge cellular therapies aiming to ease America's organ shortage. Major transplantation surgeries could one day become outpatient procedures. by Sariel007

I'm a transplant recipient. It might seem crude in historical retrospect, but hardly barbaric. There is a great deal of science that has gone into transplant medicine.

It isn't barbaric, in the same way that caesarean section isn't barbaric because we don't have matter-energy transporters. Given the technology we currently possess, the only other option would be inaction.

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ChristopherDuntsch t1_itk4wck wrote

Over half a million unnecessary c-sections are performed annually in the United States. Some might consider even one barbaric.

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vrts t1_itlhbep wrote

That doesn't seem an apt comparison. You describe a systemic issue rather than one of technology and science.

The ability to perform them is available, the onus is on the healthcare provider to apply treatments judiciously.

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runningdownadream09 t1_itkgn93 wrote

Another perspective would be that years from now they will look back and marvel that we were able to do transplants and save so many lives with just the medicine, technology, and scientific understanding that we had. Because, it’s pretty damn incredible that we can do this right now.

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vrts t1_itlhxj4 wrote

Agreed. In a similar way to how we look at flight. How quickly humanity has been able to take its first flights to walking on the moon, to now regularly sending probes to Mars and beyond.

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