No, this is not from the National Enquirer, but a documentary from National Geographic. Back in the 1950’s there was a push to transplant a human head:
Although the world’s first face transplant has already taken place, the notion of taking the head of one person and transferring it to the body of another still seems far-fetched. But back in the Fifties, despite being utterly incredible to many, it was a branch of science pursued by some of the most respected doctors of the day.A Soviet hero, Vladimir Demikhov was renowned for his work in the Red Army hospitals during World War II. When peace came, he joined an elite team of Russian doctors ordered by Stalin to beat the West in the field of medicine at any cost. Labouring far from inquisitive eyes in a secret research complex outside Moscow and experimenting freely in his search for new ways of prolonging life, Demikhov was prepared to go where others did not dare.
He believed for example that it was possible to transplant organs like hearts and lungs in human beings. In those days, such a procedure seemed scarcely credible – but Demikhov proved it could be done. Often preferring to work in the dead of night, he showed that the heart and lungs could be taken from one dog and survive in the chest of another.
Related posts:
- Transplant tourism
- The risk and possible rejection of a face transplant
- The demise of a liver transplant program
- Steve Jobs received a new liver, and the ethics surrounding his transplant
- Transplant flight crash
- Sid Schwab: No more and no less a human being than my patients
- Face transplant at the Cleveland Clinic
Comments on this entry are closed.