Now this is a very sad story that would seem to be science fiction, but isn’t. Sonny Graham received the heart of a suicide victim named Terry Cottle. Afterwards, he seems to have assimilated something of the dead man’s essence into his being. From the story:

The operation was a success and soon after, Mr Graham, 69, contacted the organ donor agency, saying he wanted to thank Mr Cottle’s family. He began writing to Mr Cottle’s widow, Cheryl, 39, and they soon fell in love and were married in 2004, moving to the US state of Georgia.

After the wedding, Mrs Graham said: “It helped me so much. Meeting Sonny made it easier for me, knowing something so good came from something so bad.” In a newspaper article published in 2006, Mr Graham said he felt an instant and unusual attachment when he met his donor’s widow. “I felt like I had known her for years,” Mr Graham said. “I couldn’t keep my eyes off her. I just stared.”

But now, 12 years after the operation, Mrs Graham’s life has been rocked by another tragedy. Mr Graham killed himself with a shotgun, in circumstances similar to those which claimed Mr Cottle’s life. His friends said he had shown no signs of being depressed and were at a loss to explain his sudden death.

And get this:

According to scientists, there are more than 70 documented cases of transplant patients taking on some of the personality traits of the organ donors.

Some people–and not just those on late night flying saucer talk radio–say that our whole bodies reflect and constitute who we are, not just the brain. This, it seems to me, gives a bit of credence to that theory.

There is an interesting story in the New York Times today that illustrates the difficulties of reforming our health care system to provide universal access. Massachusetts recently required universal coverage through private or public means. The consequence has been greater health insurance coverage but a terrible dearth of doctors to provide all that extra care. From the story:

Once they discover that she is Dr. Kate, the supplicants line up to approach at dinner parties and ballet recitals. Surely, they suggest to Dr. Katherine J. Atkinson, a family physician here, she might find a way to move them up her lengthy waiting list for new patients.

Those fortunate enough to make it soon learn they face another long wait: Dr. Atkinson’s next opening for a physical is not until early May–of 2009.

Why the bottleneck? The same number of doctors now have to provide care for hundreds of thousands newly covered MA residents:

Now in Massachusetts, in an unintended consequence of universal coverage, the imbalance is being exacerbated by the state’s new law requiring residents to have health insurance.

Since last year, when the landmark law took effect, about 340,000 of Massachusetts’ estimated 600,000 uninsured have gained coverage. Many are now searching for doctors and scheduling appointments for long-deferred care…

Dr. Patricia A. Sereno, state president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, said an influx of the newly insured to her practice in Malden, just north of Boston, had stretched her daily caseload to as many as 22 to 25 patients, from 18 to 20 a year ago. To fit them in, Dr. Sereno limits the number of 45-minute physicals she schedules each day, thereby doubling the wait for an exam to three months.

“It’s a recipe for disaster,” Sereno said. “It’s great that people have access to health care, but now we’ve got to find a way to give them access to preventive services. The point of this legislation was not to get people episodic care.”

Yea, good luck with that. I saw this same phenomenon in Canada a few years ago. There was a front page story in the Globe and Mail worrying that 900,000 residents of Ontario could not find a doctor to care for them despite having a right to treatment under the law. That meant those Canadians received care out of the back of emergency rooms–just like American uninsured.

The moral of the story is that providing universal coverage is not going to be easy. It is going to require innovation, a willingness not to demand every possible service be covered (good luck with that, too), and will require adjustments at all levels of our health care system, including finding a way to produce more doctors, nurse practitioners, physician’s assistants, and the like. Any politician who pretends otherwise is whistling past the grave yard.

Considering that an embryo created by somatic cell nuclear transfer using animal eggs and human DNA is a ‘live human embryo’ is one that may well be challenged, although if this was challenged legally I would be inclined to agree with the interpretation taken by the Licence Committee that the Courts would take the view that these types of embryos are to be covered by legislation. Although this may be the approach which would be taken by the Courts, that is not to say that the average lay person would agree that an embryo created using animal eggs, even though they have had the animal DNA removed, are fully human embryos. This is an area for ongoing ethical debate. (BioNews)

The Bush administration has argued strongly in favor of the doctrine, which holds that the F.D.A. is the only agency with enough expertise to regulate drug makers and that its decisions should not be second-guessed by courts. The Supreme Court is to rule on a case next term that could make pre-emption a legal standard for drug cases. The court already ruled in February that many suits against the makers of medical devices like pacemakers are pre-empted. (New York Times)

Scientists have taken skin cells from patients with eight different diseases and turned them into stem cells. The advance means scientists are moving closer to using stem cells from the patient themselves to treat disease. (BBC)

For chronically ill patients in their last two years of life, Medicare spends an average of $59,379 in New Jersey but only $32,523 in North Dakota. The difference is primarily a result of patients getting more hospital care, but not necessarily better care, according to a new report. (AP)

It sounds like alchemy: cells within an organism are genetically almost identical, yet they form cell types as disparate as pulsing neurons, engulfing macrophages and enzyme-secreting villus cells. Recently developed techniques appear able to prompt cells from a terminally differentiated state into one in which they not only divide indefinitely but can, in theory, become any cell type found in adults. Last year’s advances in generating such cells from mice and humans have opened what could be a new era of pluripotent stem cell biology. (Nature)

In pockets of the United States, rural and urban, a confluence of market and medical forces has been widening the gap between the supply of primary care physicians and the demand for their services. Modest pay, medical school debt, an aging population and the prevalence of chronic disease have each played a role. (New York Times)

Scientists have discovered a new technique for turning embryonic stem cells into insulin-producing pancreatic tissue in what could prove a significant breakthrough in the quest to find new treatments for diabetes. (ScienceDaily)

ransplants of brain cells given to Parkinson’s disease patients survive for 10 years or more, three teams of researchers reported on Sunday, but at least some of the transplants were damaged. (Reuters)