Dozens of doctors and nurses silently lined the hospital hallway in tribute: For a history-making two months, a pig’s kidney worked normally inside the brain-dead man on the gurney rolling past them.
The dramatic experiment came to an end Wednesday as surgeons at NYU Langone Health removed the pig kidney and returned the donated body of Maurice “Mo” Miller to his family for cremation.
It marked the longest a genetically modified pig kidney has ever functioned inside a human, albeit a deceased one. And by pushing the boundaries of research with the dead, the scientists learned critical lessons they’re preparing to share with the Food and Drug Administration -– in hopes of eventually testing pig kidneys in the living.
“It’s a combination of excitement and relief,” Dr. Robert Montgomery, the transplant surgeon who led the experiment, told The Associated Press. “Two months is a lot to have a pig kidney in this good a condition. That gives you a lot of confidence” for next attempts.
What a fascinating way to use a donated body.
While this is definitely an efficient use of such a unique situation, there are tons of experiments that would be fascinating to do on a brain dead subject.
Yeah this whole thing has made me reconsider having a DNR. If I’m a vegetable, experiment away! And then burn my body.
My wife and I discussed this extensively (and I’m a scientist. Well, PhD engineer. The science/engineering boundary tends to blur.). It hits close to home. Her mother died of an aneurysm suddenly when she was a girl, and her mom had her organs donated.
If our organs are good, take all of them, except for the ones that will be sold (some human tissue can be made into products that are sold, unlike, say kidneys).
After that, cremate or sanitize me in some environmentally friendly way. Fargo method, sky burial, whatever new thing they’re thinking of. Doesn’t matter. I’m already gone.
Then dispose. No keeping me. I want to be returned to nature.
I would definitely support this if my organs weren’t viable. I don’t think I would mind being a med school cadaver, but it’s not really my preference.
Donating your dead but still living body is just a hugely valuable way to make the world a better place.
As per DNR, why do you have a DNR? I’ll definitely have one at end of life, but that’s not something you have until then. This is definitely not something that would be done on DNR patients. People who have DNRs don’t don’t really make good scientific subjects for things like this.
Idk what kind of products you can turn a body into that can be sold (first I’ve heard of it), but wouldn’t that even be more environmentally friendly than just cremating those parts? I say use whatever, I’m done with it, if human skin wallets or whatever are hot on the market go for it.
Like in a Viking way?
Not the Viking way. If I’m to go out in a blaze, let me have all the flame to myself. No need to follow me.
Yeah I have no idea how this was arranged, but it’s a very cool thing to have happened. God bless Mo and his family.
Based on the linked articles, the research into genetically modified pig organs for xenotransplantation was already underway by the hospital. He could not donate his organs due to cancer, so they asked his family if he could be used as a human test subject for measuring the viability of the pig kidney.
Would vegans accept pigs kidney?
I would imagine this to vary between vegans. The ethical equation is different when looking at a life or death transplant vs a meal that could just as easily be substituted for a vegan alternative.
Good question! I’m curious too.
So, there’s emotional vegans and intellectual ones.
I could definitely see an intellectual taking one of the pigs kidneys and giving both the pig and the kidney a good home. Maybe not though. That’s why this is such a good question.
I have convinced an intellectual vegan that it was ok to eat farmed clams and oysters. Because:
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You are going to have a lot of difficulty convincing me that that thing is at all sentient. What would even the purpose be. It just sits there and filter feeds. (I could go on, but I won’t)
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The lastest research I’ve seen about this kind of farming suggests that it is probably beneficial to the ecosystem, and if it’s not, it’s largely neutral.
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I would assume no of the pig was killed for the organ.
You don’t just pop into the supermarket for a kidney. Animals are probably reared in strict conditions for the research and then harvested.
The pig embryos have to be specifically genetically modified such that their organs don’t have proteins that would cause an immune response in humans.
You can buy kidneys in some supermarkets.
Not living ones though. Just saying.
But you’re right.
Wait what… he was brain dead but alive… them they took the kidney out, and then what?
I imagine they donated the kidneys and put a hybrid one in there. Then you can monitor the body.
It’s neat, but transplant ethics are really, really hard.
If the liver, heart, lungs, or other sensitive organs were viable, this experiment could easily render them inviable.
As a scientist, people doing science like this are typically well above board and kidney function is pretty simple to measure. This would also require all kinds of IRB approval that everyone would expect to be visible.
So, if the other organs were viable, they probably could easily stop the experiment and donate the organs.
I expect. I’d have to read the paper and such.
They removed one of his kidneys and put the pig one in. He had brain cancer which means all his organs were already inviable for transplant.
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