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lIlIlIlIlIlIIlIllII t1_itizbb0 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

>Organ transplantation will one day be seen as barbaric as blood letting and lobotomies.

That's not really an apt comparison, considering organ transplantations actually work.

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[deleted] t1_itjgffx wrote

[deleted]

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vrts t1_itk1r1n wrote

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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Johnny_Grubbonic t1_itj2x7f wrote

So does blood letting, in certain specific situations. Hell, we still use leeches.

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a1234321 t1_itjnwkp wrote

Pretty sure maggots are still used to clean some wounds, too.

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Dr_DoVeryLittle t1_itj311r wrote

To be fair lobotomies did work just not in an ethical way

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ImPolicy t1_itk88i1 wrote

Dr. Walter Freeman, who brought the practice to America, killed 490 of the 3,500 people he treated, including children. One of the greatest serial killers in American history.

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