White, Hilary. “Breakthrough: New heart grown using adult stem cells.” LifeSiteNews. 4 April 2011. http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/breakthrough-new-heart-grown-using-adult-stem-cells/ (accessed on 13 April 2011)
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This online news article revolves around an unprecedented medical experiment in the laboratory. The researchers from University of Minnesota successfully artificially created the first living human heart with the adoption of adult stem cells. They expect this discovery reveals a new page in human history of medicine sciences, and establishes the hope for transplantation towards those people having cardiac diseases.
Dr. Doris Taylor, the lead researcher, asserts that this artificial heart can “[circumvent] the ethical problems involved in organ donation”, since the donated human heart is no longer needed in transplant operation. Contradictorily, this research was utilized the cardiac extracellular matrix obtained from a human donor as a foundation for cell division and growth. Undoubtedly, the technical problems such as immune system rejection will be solved. However, the ethical problems still exist – for example, who should be the stem cells provider? Probably, will this advanced technique promote “brainstem death” become a new definition of human death? Moreover, some further debatable questions occur – do I lose the autonomy (subjectivity) on self body when I died? It seems that even though I am willing to donate my organs after death, but I am unable (in other word, powerless) to involve and control the operation and/or experiment. As patients, they also face the similar phenomenon. Furthermore, will the self-identity be changed after the patients receiving the transplanted organs, which destroy the uniqueness and originality of their bodies?
In fact, the concepts of artificial organogenesis have been purposed since 2007. Theoretically, not only building heart, but such skills are also available to produce other organs such as liver, lung as well as kidney. In the foreseeable future, human will be objectified as a robot, while the organs will also be objectified as mechanical components. Once we discover our separable bodies are suffered from any organic disorders, we just replace the problematic organs. The whole process is seemingly performed like component repair of nonfunctional machines. As a result, those patients who received such artificial-created living organs become cyborgs, since the innovated technology save and even extend their life, and they contain some “non-human” elements inside their bodies.
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