5 ms·
The case of the nearly 7k missing pancreases
- cperciva 2y agoWhile I don't doubt that there's a lot of fudging going on here, the author is a bit off in thinking that the only research use of pancreata is in transplanting islet cells into patients. In particular, there has been a lot of research recently into "encapsulated islets" -- placing them inside some form of membrane which allows nutrients in and insulin out, but protects them from the immune system. This would make it possible to implant an "artificial pancreas" without needing life-long immunosuppressant therapy.
- tossandthrow 2y agoThat is explicitly irrelevant: > That meant, hopefully, that they’d be judged solely on how many organs they recovered and transplanted into people It would seem like extraction with the sole purpose of research is out of scope for organ donors. Ie. The author did justice in only referring to research that includes transplantation.
- cperciva 2y agoThe 2004 law allows for the counting of pancreata used for islet cell transplantation or research.
- zaptheimpaler 2y agoWhat stands out to me is that private actors figured out a loophole within weeks/months and it took the government 4 years to close it. A familiar story of the sad state of government regulation wherever you look. They treat lawmaking as a waterfall process, trying to plan for every eventuality years into the future and inevitably failing instead of going faster and course-correcting along the way.
- bomewish 2y agoMakes me think the govt should maybe straight up just punish obvious loophole exploitation. Clearly they were acting against the spirit of the regs for personal benefit. It seems obviously corrupt. Just punish them to deter this kind of nonsense?