Organ Transplants
Scientists draw a picture of what they don't understand
in terms of what they do For example, the atom is (or used to be) seen as being
like a star (the nucleus) with orbiting planets (the electrons). Although it is
now known that the situation is vastly more complicated than this, the prevailing
picture is difficult to remove from the minds of many people. A similar picture
is the brain as being like a computer. In fact science fiction often speculates
on ‘uploading’ and ‘downloading’ consciousness onto a computer. Some scientists
even think this is an area of worthwhile study – an example of how people can
get carried away by their own preconceptions.
A similar picture is presented of the human body. The brain is the computer and the rest of the body is simply an engine that feeds and services it. In the Middle Ages consciousness was seen as originating in the heart but our intellectual society prefers to think of the intellect as being the controller, rather than the emotions. This simplistic notion of the body as being like a machine has led to a huge industry in organ transplants. Replacing a heart or liver is seen as no different to replacing a worn out component in a car.
In fact, recipients of organs have to lead a regime controlled by a cocktail of
immune-suppressing drugs that prevent the body's immune system from rejecting
the organ as if it was a disease.
One issue that isn't reported in the media, however, is that many (if not all)
organ recipients inherit characteristics of their donors.
This is from
Do cells remember?:
When reporters asked Claire Sylvia, a heart-lung transplant recipient, after surgery what she most wanted, she replied, "Actually, I'm dying for a beer right now."
No one was more surprised at her answer than Sylvia: She'd never liked beer. Or green peppers. Or chicken nuggets. Over time, though, she discovered that Tim, the 18-year-old male motorcyclist whose organs she had received, had loved the foods she now craved.
This is common response of recipients. One person reported liking (even loving) classical music when before he had no interest. Others reported liking different foods or adopting different fashions. One liver recipient took up kickboxing out of the blue – a sport her donor loved.
Because most doctors are not aware of this process, recipients get no counseling
and the changes are attributed to after-effects of the operation or drugs.
"The idea that transplanting organs transfers the coding of life experiences is unimaginable," says John Schroeder, a cardiologist and professor at Stanford Medical Center, at which about 900 heart transplants have been performed since the first one there in 1968. "Most scientists believe psychological experience is stored in the brain. This is just not something the [medical transplant world] accepts."
Claire Sylvia was able to integrate the soul of the donor into her own and as a result was able to stop taking the immune suppressing drugs some time ago. At the time of writing she is still alive.
Consciousness runs through each cell of the body and transplanting an organ is not merely a mechanical process. This also has huge implications for using pigs as donors.
