Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Ideology rather than saving lives?
I have a friend whose father works for a fertility clinic. You know where those embryos go? In a freezer, and if they get the consent of the parents, they get trashed. I realize that each embryo has the potential to turn into a child, but why draw the line there? Does every egg count? Is having an ejaculation mass murder?
While we argue ideologically about the worth of "every single human life," we let embryos sit in a freezer or be discarded (which kind of nullifies the argument that this is over whether a stem cell has a "right to live," don't you think?) when we could be using this tissue that will (if we think pragmatically, at least) never ever develop into an actual human being for something that could be used productively to cure diseases.
It seems, sometimes, like the Bush administration enjoys idealogically arguing about lives more than actually saving them. I have trouble understanding how an embryo that will never develop has more of a right to not die than someone with cancer. Or for that matter, an Iraqi civilian child who is at the wrong place at the wrong time.
I have nothing but disparaging thoughts for this administration, and I cannot wait until the 2008 election, when I will finally be old enough to vote.
Mousey surgery
Today I performed surgery on a mouse. There were extra mice around that would have died soon anyway, so we got to practice the procedure for inserting islets in mice (except instead of inserting islets, we inserted water). First the mice were anesthesized, then I made an incision along its back cutting it's skin, and then its muscle. Then I took a cotton swab and popped its kidney out, and used a seringe to insert the water underneath the renal membrane. Afterwards, I took both the skin and muscle layer and sutured it. Apparently, I am pretty good at sutures, especially for someone who has never done it before--mine looked pretty tidy and Dr. Avila complemented me.
I had a moment of hesitation when I had to make the first incision on the skin by pinching it with the forceps and snipping with the surgical scissors. But after that first incision, I was totally fine. I'm not grossed out by blood, and I guess I have the ability to detach myself from the fact that there is an animal that will be killed for nothing more than practice under my hands (the procedure wasn't totally sterile, and eventually we had to break their necks because we students take a long time to suture and we were running out of anthesthetic). I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.
Overall, it was a really interesting experience--I'm always facinated with how the body is put together. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Surgeons make suturing look easy, and I always assumed it was one of those things that would be really tricky that only looks easy because they have so much experience. It was a little tricky, but I'm sure with a little practice I could get the hang of it just fine.
I still think I want to become a surgeon. Not just because it's "cool" or whatever, but because at the end of the day, I would undergo a procedure like that with the intent to actually save someone rather than a procedure that is fatal--even if it's just kills a mouse.
