Medical Researchers Making Progress On Uterus Transplants

1. Skippy
   October 23rd, 2009 at 12:01 pm

   Although interesting, I think they should stop wasting money on various fertility treatments and instead focus on the importance of adoption of children that already exist. There are too many children locally, nationally, and globally, who need loving homes and stability. I think wasting resources on fertility treatments is unfair to these children.

2. Skipweasel
   October 23rd, 2009 at 12:23 pm

   While infertility must, I'm sure, be devastating, we do seem to be getting the response out of proportion. I wouldn't go so far as to say the resources are "wasted", but from where I'm standing any reasonable cost-benefit analysis would suggest better ways of spending limited resources.

   In countries where you pay for your own medicine, then of course, it's up to you. The rest of the world however has socialised medicine and to expect it within such a system doesn't seem right. Of course, you can always step outside State provided medicine and go private - something that the anti public-healthcare lobby in the States seems to ignore at every turn.

3. Melissa
   October 23rd, 2009 at 2:15 pm

   It seems a bit silly to me to have a uterus transplant. Transplants are costly and risky. For vital organs and organs that dramatically increase a person's quality of life they make sense. My husband has transplanted bones in his ears. Without them, he'd be deaf. My former step-father has a transplanted kidney, without it he would be dead by now.

   However, there's a lot of other alternatives to a transplanted uterus. First of all, there's adoption. But if you're totally set on having children that are your biological children, there's surrogate parent-hood. I can't imagine investing the money and risking my health and putting the financial and emotional strain of major surgery on my family to have a uterus transplanted just so that I could incubate my own fetus myself.

4. BlessedBlogger
   October 23rd, 2009 at 4:25 pm

   I think my perspective on this may be a bit different because I'm a young woman (almost 30) suffering from infertility due to PCOS which lead to endometrial cancer. I've been trying to have a child for five years and will likely have to have a hysterectomy in the near future.

   For folks with infertility problems hearing 'Why don't you just adopt?' is a big slap in the face. I'd adopt a baby (or even an older child) today if I could but adoption is a very lengthy, emotionally difficult and expensive process. And while I think adoption is a wonderful choice, one we plan to try even if we do manage to have a child, it's undeniable that most folks have a hardwired drive to have their own genetic child and experience pregnancy. I hardly think that's selfish or unreasonable.

   I think people often don't think of all the ramifications of infertility, especially the removal of your uterus and ovaries. Besides dealing with the medical, financial and emotional issues that come with infertility, you often have to deal with the underlying medical condition causing the infertility and all the hassle of being refused treatment for a medical condition not covered by insurance. If you lose your uterus and ovaries or they cease to function it isn't just a matter of fertility, your reproductive organs do more than make babies. Without my ovaries I'll cease to produce vital hormones which will cause me to go into an extreme form of menopause at the age of 29. This causes all sorts of serious health risks including bone loss, increased risk of heart disease and increased risk of various cancers, etc.

   So please, before you criticize such a procedure, ask yourself if you can really understand infertility if you've never experienced it and how you would feel physically and psychologically if you lost your reproductive organs. Ask yourself if perhaps there are broader medical reasons for having the procedure than simply wanting to have a child.

   For what it's worth, I probably wouldn't have this procedure done myself. It would likely not be covered by insurance (which is just horrible), it would likely be as expensive and risky as adoption. That said, just because I wouldn't do it doesn't mean I think it should be denied to other women.

5. Skipweasel
   October 23rd, 2009 at 11:34 pm

   I wasn't suggesting denying it to women, just that when resources are short there are likely other ways to spend limited funds which would have a greater cost/benefit. If people want to pay for it themselves, that's their own affair.

6. Manticore
   October 24th, 2009 at 1:09 am

   sweet, when can I sign up to sell my uterus? I don't want the filthy thing.

7. ted
   October 24th, 2009 at 6:41 am

   I worked with a woman who constantly tried to have children, and every single time she tried, lost the baby within the first few months. Is it sensible to try over and over again?

   I have nothing against this type of research; often it opens up doors to other research, like something that might help someone like BlessedBlogger.

   But if you're doing it just to get pregnant and have that extra special bonding moment, that's just a waste.

8. whitcwa
   October 24th, 2009 at 8:03 am

   I would think that rabbits are the last animal to help with fertility treatment. Haven't they heard that they breed like ummm rabbits?

   Seriously, this type of treatment is one reason society pays so much for healthcare. We need more GPs and fewer specialists, and we should pay the GPs better. It is very sad when a couple is infertile, but it is sadder when people die from preventable diseases.

9. Inneed
   November 13th, 2009 at 5:37 am

   How far have you gone with the research. How much is it going to cost. l want to have a baby too. l'm in kenya so please get in touch with me as soon as things have worked out. And after tranplant how long does it take for one to get pregnant.

   Thanks for your research as adopted kids can't be like your own bllod and stigma that accompanys us as our society will always whisper to the kids that you were adopted.

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT