News and Events => Science & Medical News => Topic started by: LostInTime on January 16, 2007, 01:34:04 PM Return to Full Version
Title: Doctors' plan to transplant uterus stirs ethics debate
Post by: LostInTime on January 16, 2007, 01:34:04 PM
Post by: LostInTime on January 16, 2007, 01:34:04 PM
Link (http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/16470127.htm)
But the planned operation, which Del Priore and his colleagues could attempt later this year, is stirring objections among some transplant experts, fertility specialists and medical ethicists. They question whether the procedure has been tested enough on animals and whether the benefit of being able to carry a pregnancy outweighs the risks for the woman and fetus.
``This raises a set of very difficult medical and ethical questions,'' said Thomas Murray, who heads the Hastings Center, a biomedical ethics think tank in Garrison, N.Y. ``I think it's very questionable. This would be very hard to justify.''
But the planned operation, which Del Priore and his colleagues could attempt later this year, is stirring objections among some transplant experts, fertility specialists and medical ethicists. They question whether the procedure has been tested enough on animals and whether the benefit of being able to carry a pregnancy outweighs the risks for the woman and fetus.
``This raises a set of very difficult medical and ethical questions,'' said Thomas Murray, who heads the Hastings Center, a biomedical ethics think tank in Garrison, N.Y. ``I think it's very questionable. This would be very hard to justify.''