Terminally ill man set to undergo world's first full HEAD transplant by doctor branded "nuts"

I am not optimistic. That being said, I don't appreciate the tangle of double standards we have about risk taking and death.

There are plenty of situations where an overly optimistic visionary and a man with nothing to lose taking a chance on him would be considered a potentially fateful heroic pairing. It's a common theme in dramatic fiction in our culture.

Why is it heroic when astronauts choose to believe that their co workers can engineer working spaceship parts out of duct tape rather than waiting to die in space, but not for a dying guy to choose the belief that his nervous system can be spliced and reused like an unsafe extension cord rather than just waiting to die on Earth?

a reply to: The Vagabond

I'm not sure I got your post right, but I honestly think this guy's life is his own, he do what he want with it. In this abusive world, I think the last thing "truely" inalienable is the right to "dispose" as one wish of his own soul and body...

a reply to: PeterMcFly

That's what he's saying.

It's up to him essentially.

Good luck to him but I can't imagine it working. He may even survive the transplant and no rejection takes place but is left with even more immobility.

The other thing I find a bit dusturbing is the body of the donor being used. So they've agreed to donate organs if brain dead, but did they really agree to donating most of their body?

The body and mind are connected. I don't think you can seperate the two. I suppose if it was sucsessfully though it might answer that question. If the soul resides in the body I woukd think its in the head. It could also be in every cell of your body and he ends up with two souls, sharing it with another.

I wonder if he would have the phantom sensation going on where he still feels like his real body is still there , or the body thinks the head is still there.

Just seems bizarre anyways.

This is science moving forwards. Many common and largely successful procedures that are taken for granted now were originally met by the same ridicule by the ignorant and the fearful.

Either it will be a success or it will fail, but either way lessons will be learned and it will be refined and eventually head transplants will be as common as any organ transplant. Good luck to all involved, they could potentially be paving the way for many who suffer to have an improved quality of life.

a reply to: IntastellaBurst

Well, really, what does it matter? Their successors will still be in control once such life prolonging technologies starts appearing. Unless they're exposed and overthrown that is. Let's do that, sounds like a plan.

The fact that you can't reconnect the nervous system means that this is an idiotic procedure at this point in time. If it was doable, then people suffering paralysis would be able to walk again.

All the internal organs will fail , and this man will be dead within hours. I know he hasn't got much choice, but if you go through this you might as well commit suicide. At least go out with a little dignity....

Currently there is no way to repair spinal cord damage.

Canavaro's plan is basically to chop the heads off. Bathe the spinal cord in polyethylene glycol & then stick it on the new body. Then put the guy in a medically induced coma for a month to stop him moving. During that time, they'll use electrical stimulation on the nerves from implants that were put in during the initial operation.

They should be focusing on stem cells for repairing spinal cord injuries. Once they are able to do that, then there is literally nothing stopping the transplant from being a success. Gluing it together & hitting it with electric stimulation isn't enough!

a reply to: Zanti Misfit


Only 4 of us actually got that?
Damn I am feeling old.

On Topic - I think this guy is committing suicide in a round about way, but if it works, more power to him. What's he got to lose?

a reply to: Anyafaj

It's upto him, if he is willing to try it and he is going to die anyway... so, he could be the first experiment to see if it works!

If it doesn't work... well.... like i said 'he's going to die anyway'.

does the head have to be attached to a human body?


The Egyptians used to put heads on all sorts of animals, we are more advanced than ancient Egyptians were so this should be easy peasy!


Lets just not get too big headed, get ahead of ourselves, lose our heads about it or when it goes comically wrong laugh our heads off.....







Additional head pun.

a reply to: Anyafaj

Oh of course, there'll be a thousand and one preachers of various faiths condemning any attempts to explore the boundaries of medical science, even though it means nothing to their existence, and even though it might lead to a thousand and one other medical breakthroughs.

Good luck to him, it's his body and his life, if he wants to do this then he should be supported in his decision. In fact, I would go further than that and say he's an incredible Human, doing this might lead to all kinds of amazing things and without that first daring dreamer so much would never have been achieved.

Too bad religious types have made stem cell research so taboo, you have to wonder how much it would have helped someone like this with a degenerative disease.

Guess that explains Donald Trump

His quality of life sucks anyway, let him be a guinea pig. Whether it works or not, a lot of knowledge will be gained.

Someone has to be the first and if he dies, so what? He was going to die anyway... might as well be a useful death.

a reply to: Anyafaj

I say go for it after all what has the poor fellow really got to lose?

If the recipient of this new body is to breathe on his own after such an operation some form of reattachment regrading the spinal column will be necessary. One has to wonder how they will keep the brain properly oxygenated for long enough for them to reattach the spinal column, and indeed how they will manage such a feat in the first place given the complexity involved?

a reply to: violet

The body and mind are connected. I don't think you can seperate the two.

Do you know, I don't even believe in the existence of souls, but I think you are absolutely correct in this.

So does this mean myself and a chimp could swap bodies? My head on the chimp body and the chimp head on mine.
It would be the best Superhero duo ever!.

will another body "waste away"?

a reply to: Anyafaj

I don't think it matters.

The new body will reject his head as it (the new body) has an identity as well, and I'm sure "it" knows the new head doesn't belong...JMO

Isn't this kind of a head of the times?

I'm pretty sure that this isn't going to work as expected.