Chinese Surgeon Planning the World’s First Full Head Transplant



http://sputniknews.com/asia/20160617/1041479923/china-head-transplant-surgery.html/

Earlier this year, Doctor Ren Xiaoping of the Harbin Medical University in China claimed to have transplanted the head of a monkey, but the animal was immobile following the operation and had to be euthanized 20 hours later. Xiaoping was also one of the surgeons on the team who completed the first human hand transplant in the US in 1999.

Now, the doctor claims he will attempt a head transplant on a human. The operation will involve removing a disabled volunteer’s head and attaching it to the body of a cadaver.

“The subject’s head would then be connected by the blood vessels, with a metal plate inserted in the neck for support, and an adhesive attached to the spinal cord to help with regrowth,” the Express reported.

Xiaoping has reportedly been inundated with volunteers, many of whom are paralyzed, willing to risk their lives for a chance at mobility.

Italian neurosurgeon Dr. Sergio Canavero has also stated that he plans to conduct a head transplant by the end of 2017, but Xiaoping believes he will be ready to perform the macabre and risky surgery sooner.

The transplant presents a number of medical questions, and many experts have their doubts.

“Would a brain integrate new signals, perceptions, information from a body different from the one it was familiar with? I think the most likely result is insanity or severe mental disability,” Arthur Caplan, head of medical ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center, wrote for Forbes.

“Brain transplantation is not ready for prime time. To attempt to move a brain to a new body given what is known about the medicine and science involved, one would have to be out of one’s mind.”

Well, the penis transplant, I won't comment to.

Okay, this doctor is a some kind of genius.

But just because we as humans,can do something, doesn't mean we should .

pretty ambitious I would say!

This is amazing. I hope this works out.

I'm saying this in absolutely earnestness, not being snarky nor trying to derail: This could be the next step towards dramatically increasing our lifespans, by growing clones of ourselves and transplanting our heads onto the clone's body. Of course, that clone would be designed so as to never produce a brain - but it would still raise ethical questions about what it is that makes a human alive.

What would you do if you had the option at age 70 or so to start a brainless clone growing, and have your head transplanted onto it 20 years later?

I mean, your brain is still going to die, eventually even with a younger body. But it seems like this could delay your death for many decades.

So technically can one transplant trumps head on hilarys body?

Now that is funny