They'll be growing you a new heart from your own tissue in a few short years, and of course without the problem of tissue rejection from donor organs. Livers, tracheas, bladders and more organs are now grown from your own stem cells. That's if you can wait long enough for the tissue to grow to maturity before you croak.

Point of information, ttmadison. Hearts are always harvested while beating and placed into a cold Igloo for transport. That pertains to the old fashioned method and this method as well. It's restarted after initial harvest. The only thing that changes is the recipient pool. So your zeal to inject politics and conspiracy into this technology is made-up and unfounded.

What is amazing is that the box used for transporting the beating heart was developed by a US company, but the initial trials were done in Europe. You can thank the FDA for this. The rules over here are so antiquated and cumbersome that the US is falling behind the rest of the world. The excessive regulations and restrictions are pushing the high tech medical companies to leave the US for more favorable environs in Europe. It remains to be seen whether this method really improves the length of time that the heart is viable for transport or if it has a positive effect on the prognosis for transplant recipients. Hopefully the study being done will prove out the advantages of this new method and help alleviate the organ shortage.

maybe antiquated but just look at all the drugs approved only to later be pulled duue to deaths from side effects. as for the procedure saving lives, it hasnt been established that it works any better. just theory.

Dale -

How do you know she is wealthy and since when did it become such a bad thing to be "rich?" It's time for little Dale to grow up.

it's not a bad thing, but it shouldn't come on the back of someone else; that's all he's saying. Nothing childish about that.

Dale,

You need to be careful in deciding who is worthy of medical care and who isn't. Compassion isn't subjective. The biggest problem I see, is the lack of tranferable organs. Thousands die each year waiting for a transplant of some kind or another. Please, sign your donor cards and let your family know your wishes. To give someone back their life, is a wonderful legacy to leave behind.

Just in the interest of accuracy, the box cost is $200K and ONLY the interior is not reusable. Still pretty spendy. Hope they do get the costs down.

>>"the rich will find a way to get their transplant."<< As it should be.

1)Organs should go to the highest bidder, just like any other commodity.

2)Rules/laws against consensual sale of organs by either the donor and/or his or her estate, should be eliminated. Everyone else gets a payday from the operation, why should the supplier of the raw material be an exception? You want one of my kidneys for free, you say? You can kiss my ass for that.

First, as to the cost, that is what insurance SHOULD be for. Since the companies won't play ball (even when in some cases it would be CHEAPER) we all pay one way or another. And it's not like it's experimental surgery...it's been around since for almost 50 years, and the survival rates are getting better. How can you compare apples to oranges when it comes to medical care? Should we skimp on vaccines because we can save a few bucks further down the road?

What we should be doing is thinking outside the box like these people. If we can improve the process, or even better, find ways to replace our body parts when they do wear out can help the bottom line even better.

Prevention is the best cure by far...I do my best to keep from being a transplant candidate. But the fact is when you DO need a transplant, money shouldn't be a factor...if it is, then something is wrong with your health care and economic system (Think Arizona!).

As demand goes up, someone will find a way to do this cost-effectively--that's one of the laws of economics. So stop bitching.

the cost is a big concern. look at all the liver transplants that are on hepatitis patients who will only infect the new liver. and how many heart transplant patients go home and just start smoking again. millions of dollars which could be used to treat young children. an age limit should be placed on these procedures and a lot of health and psych questions asked. a lot of these are on tax payers dime.

I am not sure where some of you get your information. Media? Rumors? In any case not "anyone" can get a heart transplant. You do need to be healthy enough to maintain the organ. A transplant is a gift and you need to do right by the donor family. In order to get a transplant you under go multiple physical and mental tests. There is criteria to follow and if you are mentally unstable or too ill for transplant physically or mentally you can and will be denied.

If this has equal or better results than the current procedures then it will become commonplace. Moden Medicine is amazing, just think how doctors would react if 100 years ago you told them they could give someone a new heart.

How much was your life worth? I guess you think it is worth less than a million dollars. That's sad.

This kind of procedure broadens the number of patients who can receive treatment. You just happened to be lucky that there was a donor who had a blood match 4 hours away. What if you didn't?

It's a show, OK? Most people don't believe everything they see on TV or in the movies. :-)

Yea, it's a show. If half of what you saw on tv were true we'd either have no crime, or every city in America would have been blown up by now.

Obamawama care, bullsh-t. This country is so far behind in treating its citizens with respect and equality within the medical system, it's pathetic. Whining about reform! That's the true sign of the throw-back mentality.

You do realize that socialized medicine is one of the reasons they did the trials in Europe first, right? Try getting an American insurance company to pay a million dollars for an experiential treatment.

As opposed to Republicans hijacking it?

Why not put the whole thing to a national referendum? Have both parties draw up a plan and put it to a vote by the people? It should be the people who should have a say in their health care...after all, WE are the ones who in the end pay for it. I'd at least like to get a return on my investment!

It's a shame Europe and the Pacific Rim countries are now on the cutting edge, while we are getting left in the dust. If things don't improve in the next 2 years, I'd like to know how the powers that be explain themselves.

Mr. Saunders

I agree with most of what your words suggest. How many people have died for want of an heart while so many hearts disappear into the grave? the biggest problem America has about the lack of available donors is the cost of making the transfer. That cost is huge because of the system we cling to about paying for the service. A single-payer system is so obviously the correct answer but we won't do that because ???.

As someone observed above, the trials were in Europe because they do have single-payer systems. America is falling so far behind in medicine but we let our misconstruction of patriotism continue to persuade us that if it's not American, it's not good.

I don't agree that it should be decided by a public referendum because most of us don't vote based on rational thinking, we vote based on what we've been indoctrinated to believe by the media, which is, unfortunately, mostly led by whoever is best at delivering press releases that fit into the short sound-bites that the media wants for scheduling purposes.

Same is true for what info we get from politicians - which ever political donors whose messages can best be fit into political rhetoric will get much of that politician's attention. And I'm not a Tea Bagger, though I would be if they had some organization and still made sense.

Sorry, didn't want this to wax political. We need medical care better than we get, we need the medical care most doctors want us to have. We won't get it as long as the medical system is controlled by financial interests.

If we have so many hearts going to the grave, why have we not built a viable mechanical heart that can be used, and let the person have some life, while they wait for a replacement? Heck, even having a usable mechanical heart while a heart is grown from stem cells would make sense.

I know we have some "bionic" hearts, but they are not perfected.

yes and i bet you know people who have been murdered for their body parts as well. but hold on it doesn't does it. people are not killed for their body parts.

Your post makes no sense. It's best not to post when your under the influence.

unlike you mr453, i neither smoke/drink beer/take drugs. sorry i will make it very simple for the simpleton you are 4 53.

let me make it clearer for you. I am sure that some of the people missLIeLA knows who have had transplants have been people who have received transplant from people who were murdered. does it make it clearer...goodie.

sorry people the accidental zillionaire is good is better at writing then little old me.

are you still throwing dice and how is 30.going to court still? i am sure tho, the 5 of the 3 is a good birthday to have

tell me Mr4 53 still listening into other peoples phone calls. i bet those telecommunication companies come in handy in making money??? and better yet how good they can be in BANKS

You're still putting out a pile of gobbly goop. Believe me I know first hand how organ transplants work. Many people made a VERY tough decision during one of the most horrible times in their lives to save the life of another person.

Yes, what this country needs desperately is single-payer medical system and not what our Congress and President has just approved.

Yuyyiam: You are a communist. Now that I've called you a communist, next I'll call you a taxi.

Yuyyiam:

Why do you practice here instead of France. You must have had a choice. Could it be because of the money you can earn here?

Government healthcare is not the answer in France or here. Too much bureaucracy already.

Why give yuyyiam such a hard time? He's only voicing the truth...our health care system sucks. We pay twice as much for health care (for industrialized countries) as compared to six other countries...Germany, Britian, the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Our rank? Dead last. Yes, DEAD LAST! We pay $7,290 per capita on average for health care. The Dutch? $3837. New Zealand only pays $2454.

If our system was so great, WHY are we paying TWICE AS MUCH for the same amount of care or less? I for one would like some answers...and facts to back them up!

And now, Mr. Saunders, after seeing this post, I'm real sure I agree with you.

The King of Saudi Arabia came here for treatment, not to France or any other country with socialized medicine. Socialized medicine is failing everywhere. If you want good care you have to come here, to the good old USA. Yep, we pay a lot, but that is thanks to our dear socialists in Congress who have added requirement upon requirement about who has to be insured and who has to pay for it, and when they did it the rates more than doubled for insurance and then health care in general. Get the government out of our health care.

Whether they consent or not? Sounds fine on its own merit, but gives rise to the possibility---no, make that the high probability---of the most horrendous of abuses developing over time. Abuses such as are already rumored to be rampant in communist China. All donations MUST remain consensual, and with guys like you running around, I hold even more strongly to my view that the supplier of the "used organ" (I shall henceforth refrain from using the term "donor" or "donated organ") or his/her estate should be allowed to collect payment for the "raw material" off of which so many others are getting a payday.

You can't be an organ donor if you are a drug user,smoker, have aids,hepatitis,TB or syphilis. That that pretty much rules out death row folks as organ donors

What in blazes are you talking about? You get ahold of some bad acid?

Well said.

I'm okay with other countries making advancements. We're special but we don't get to do everything.

maybe you keep hearing it because, then you can use the "if other people have done it and gotten away with it, so can we". and if things can be covered up, who the hell cares how the procedures came to being..isnt that right Paul

andyman:

Donors are usually already hooked up to full life support and for all intents and purposes beyond the reach of modern medicine to restore to health, thus they can be candidates to make such a donation. Cannot transport donors who are critically condition.

It would cost too much to preserve and transport the donor.

no, you arent probably doing CUTTING edge research because other countries can cover up things better than maybe they can in the US. After all who cares where the heart came from, whether the person was murdered. what the hell. after all if 5 people can benefit from 1 person dying. isnt it good that 5 people died and one person was murdered???