1.07 PPVE

What was Hippocrates' theory of four humours?

-belief that the body was made up of four components or four humours (yellow bile, blood, black bile, phlegm)

What was Galen's theory of opposites? (2)

-built on Hippocrates' theory of four humours

-eg. if a man appeared to have a fever, he treated it with something cold; if a man appeared to have a cold, he would be treated with heat. People who were weak were given hard physical exercises to do to build up their muscles

What produces blood according to Galen?

- the liver

What contributions did William Harvey (17th century) make to anatomy? (3)

-theory of blood circulation

-through vivsection (cutting and opening live animals)

-arterial and venous blood circulation

What contributions did Anton Phillips von Leeuwenttoek make? (3)

-"father of microbiology"

-animalacule -> old term for microorganism

-discovered blood cells

What contributions did Jan Swammerdam make?

-discovered red blood cells

What contributions did Robert Hooke make?

-first use of word 'cell'

Describe dissection in the past (5)

-14th Century Europe- dissection of bodies introduced, but only the bodies of publicly executed felons. This practice lasted until the 19th century

-having your body dissected was seen as a punishment worse than death

-only certified anatomists were allowed to dissect, sometimes even yearly

-attending dissections was legal

-shortage of bodies so body snatching (sneaking into graveyard and digging a body up -> people who did this and sold bodies to medical schools were called resurrectionists) came about

What were medical schools allowed to do accoridng to the 'murder act' of 1752?

-legally dissect bodies of executed murderers

What did the anatomy act of 1832 provide?

-adequate + legitimate supply of corpuses

Outline preservation of anatomical specimens in the past (2)

-17th century -> anatomical specimens were dried + stored in cabinets

-in 1660s dutch tried to preserve organs by injecting wax to keep the organs in shape -> dyes + mercury was added to better differentiate structures

-late 18th century, Thomas Pole published the Anatomical Instructor which detailed how to dry and preserve specimens + soft tissue

What is the Alder Hey Scandal? (2)

-Dick Van Velzen in liverpool hospital kept thousands of fetus parts and abortion babies parts

-stored over 2000 body parts from 850 children, even those whose parents didn't wish to have a full post-partum

What is The Human Tissue Act 2004? (4)

-establishment of the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) which regulates the removal, storage and use of human tissue

-an organ donor and recipient separately by a HTA acessor to ensure there is no financial or emotional (especially within families) coercion

-created the offence of "DNA theft"- so you cannot take human tissue for DNA analysis without the consent of the person you took it from

-made selling and trafficking of organs illegal

What does the BMA say about organ donations?

-there should be no incentives to donate organs, e.g. in Israel, if you sign up to be a donor, you are given priority for donations BMA: organs are allocated in terms of clinical need

What are the benefits and challenges regarding live donations? (2)

- (+) donations from a live donor are much more successfull than those from cadavers

-there's a concern that the donors are exposed to the risk of surgery with no physical benefit to themselves -> no legal limits to the extent of risk, except killing the patient -> it has been long accepted practice given that the surgeon is sure the donor is adequately informed, willing, capacitous and the overall benefits of the procedure outweigh the harms

Explain the concept of a domino transplant

-Patient A needs a new set of lungs but has a healthy heart. Patient A receives a pair of lungs and a heart from a cadaver. Then Patient B,who needs a new heart, receives Patient A's heart.

Describe the concept of paired and pooled donation

-if the donor and recipient are incompatible, they are paired up with one (or more) other couples in an organ exchange

Argument against removal of a person's bodily material in terms of positive rights (2)

-our body is our property

-if a person owns something, they have property rights to it: the right to sell/ rent/ transfer the property, the right to exclude others from using it, the right to use the property

Argument against removal of a person's bodily material in terms of negative rights

Privacy= article 8 of the HRA 1998 based on principle of human dignity

What are the legalities surrounding cadaver donations? (2)

-under the Human Tissue Act 2004, it is illegal to take the first steps to preserve the organs of the deceased until we know the wishes of the deceased or have the consent of someone in a qualifying relationship with the deceased (spouse, parent, child)

-in terms of donating bodies to medical schools, written and witnessed consent must be given prior to death -> consent cannot be given by anyone else after your death

Are our bodies property? (arguments FOR) (3)

-possible to place value on property beyond the material e.g. wedding rings, or things with sentimental value so we should be able to regard our bodies as property as long as it's not the only way they are valued

-it may be possible to claim intellectual property on bodily material

-if we assert ownership over our bodies we have control over our body parts when removed, can seek the return of that body part if wrongfully taken and seek compensation if profit is made of our body part/human tissue

Are our bodies property? (arguments AGAINST) (3)

-to say that the body is property is demeaning- too precious to be owned, we should focus on autonomy and right to dignified treatment instead of right to own-> our relationship with our body is one of "existing" and not "having"

- bodies cannot be regarded as property in terms of property law because they are not transferable or divisible

-recognising property rights to a person's body could hinder medical research and may lead to patients "shopping around" to find the best price for their body parts/ human tissue