Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: neilep on 20/10/2007 16:55:50

Title: Is It Possible To Keep A Body Living Indefinitely ?
Post by: neilep on 20/10/2007 16:55:50

With the advent of tools at a doctors disposal for keeping comatose people breathing etc....is it possible that even after death...to maintain a body's functions ?....blood being pumped, filtered, oxygenated etc etc etc ?

Title: Is It Possible To Keep A Body Living Indefinitely ?
Post by: Karen W. on 20/10/2007 17:01:03

Yes I am pretty sure it is! They do it already all the time. Once their is no brain activity.. you know like keeping everything going until transplants are harvested etc.. families ready to let go etc.

Title: Is It Possible To Keep A Body Living Indefinitely ?
Post by: another_someone on 20/10/2007 18:13:04

Transplants are unlikely to help once the brain is dead (unless we are talking about a brain transplant).

It really depends on what you mean by keeping the body going?  Clearly, the various functions of the body will degrade over time, but if one has a situation where potentially every organ of the body has failed, but machines keep the blood pumping, then what is it that is alive, aside from the machines?

Title: Is It Possible To Keep A Body Living Indefinitely ?
Post by: kdlynn on 21/10/2007 05:21:45

i think karen meant using the dead person's organs for transplants into other nondead people

Title: Is It Possible To Keep A Body Living Indefinitely ?
Post by: iko on 21/10/2007 10:26:43

Quote from: neilep on 20/10/2007 16:55:50

With the advent of tools at a doctors disposal for keeping comatose people breathing etc....is it possible that even after death...to maintain a body's functions ?....blood being pumped, filtered, oxygenated etc etc etc ?

Indefinitely is a word
that will never match
with human life as we
mean it.

ikod

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