Pig Hearts and the Greater Good

 

Did you see the news last week of a "successful" medical first, a pig heart transplanted into a human? Pig hearts are roughly the same size as ours and humans have been receiving replacement pig valves for more than 30 years. They are removed from pigs at the time of slaughter under stringent guidelines and then used to replace diseased and damaged valves in people. 

When we lived in Halifax a couple of decades ago I served a congregation on the edge of the Dalhousie University campus. I audited a History of Science and Religion course, which was very stimulating.  The prof knew I was a United Church minister and at one point asked if I would do some research and presentation on the religious implications of xenotransplantation -- huh? This is essentially the transplantation of animal organs into humans to prolong their lives. Falling into the "fools stumble in" rather than the angels category I agreed to do so. 

One of the ethical and religious concerns then, and still, is that animals would be bred and genetically modified for this specific purpose. I spoke with someone in the United Church head office whose role was considering ethical issues, a position which has likely been eliminated in our incredibly shrinking denomination. There wasn't a lot he could offer and it turned out that the Roman Catholic church had recently published an official document (2001) which was a thoughtful and theological exploration. It noted that there had already been a pig heart transplant but the recipient didn't survive 24 hours. Once section had the heading: 

The Use of Animals for the Good of Man 8. For a theological reflection that will help to formulate an ethical assessment on the practice of xenotransplantation, we do well to consider what the intention of the Creator was in bringing animals into existence. Since they are creatures, animals have their own specific value which man must recognize and respect. However, God placed them, together with the other nonhuman creatures, at the service of man, so that man could achieve his overall development also through them. https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_academies/acdlife/documents/rc_pa_acdlife_doc_20010926_xenotrapianti_en.html I rather tentatively made my presentation to the class, not realizing that I could have called upon one of Canada's foremost bioethicist. Dr. Francoise Baylis for advice, because she was a member of my congregation. I had no idea of her expertise and wisdom until shortly before my departure from St. Andrew's. If you saw any of the articles from last week, some of them noted that the transplanted pig heart was genetically modified, which means that it was changed so that it would be more readily accepted by the human recipient. This is a significant ethical issue, the developing technology to create animal organs which won't be rejected by human immune systems. This was part of my presentation, way back when. Do we have the right to make Frankencritters to serve our purposes. As the RC study suggests, if this God's intention for other living beings? In the end it concludes that it could be acceptable, but only if there is adequate respect for the creatures. There are thousands of people waiting for transplants and this could make a huge difference  If this makes your brain hurt (or bores you) it's understandable, and most of us would feel this discussion is way above our ethical and theological pay grade. It's important, though, and raises so many issues. Was last week's recipient a guinea pig (pun intended)? The 57-year-old guy was someone with a sketchy criminal record, so was he morally worthy of this expensive medical procedure?  I do hope that ethicists and theologians will keep the discussion going, even though this will be a lonely enterprise.