Discussion of public health and health care policy, from a public health perspective. The U.S. spends more on medical services than any other country, but we get less for it. Major reasons include lack of universal access, unequal treatment, and underinvestment in public health and social welfare. We will critically examine the economics, politics and sociology of health and illness in the U.S. and the world.
Sunday, December 06, 2015
Science marches on
This is not funny and I am not playing it for humor. It is however quite thought provoking. The VA has approved experimental penis transplant surgery for veterans whose genitals have been destroyed in the war. This will use deceased donor organs.
You may have read the Earnest Hemingway novel The Sun Also Rises, about a veteran with this injury. There are serious downsides, including the need to take immunosupressive drugs which may result in opportunistic infections, and of course organ rejection. Whether the donor penis will ever be capable of intromission or produce the desired neurological effects seems highly uncertain. It is also just plain weird concept to contemplate.
I won't say more about it because I'm not sure what to say.
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