Baby Fae: a beastly business.

Abstract

The Baby Fae experiment has highlighted the growing trend in medicine of using animal parts in the treatment of humans. This paper raises the question of the logical and moral justification for these current practices and their proposed expansion. We argue that the Cognitive Capacity Principle establishes morally justified necessary and sufficient conditions for the use of non-human animals in medical treatments and research. Some alternative sources for medical uses are explored as well as some possible programmes for their implementation.

Imagining transpecies kinship in xenotransplantation

“…Bailey -an obscure cardiac surgeon at a little known medical institution -was challenged far and wide by ethicists, and ostracized and marginalized by established xeno experts (Annas, 1985, Capron et al, 1985, Jonasson and Hardy, 1985, Knoll and Lundberg, 1985, Kushner and Belliotti, 1985, Stoller, 1990, McCormick, 1987, Nature, 1984. In the wake of this failed surgery a decade-long, global moratorium of human research ensued ).…”

Courage and Character, Leaders and Legends: An Interview with Leonard Bailey, MD

“…Some questioned the quality of informed consent while others raised issues around the experimental state of xenotransplantation and transmission of diseases from animals to humans. [6][7][8] Dr Bailey described a site visit from the National Institutes of Health shortly after the controversial xenotransplant. The informed consent document was reviewed and determined to be satisfactory.…”

History of xenotransplantation

“…At the beginning of the 20th century, Voronoff was slandered by public opinion to the extent that he had to abandon his practices. The medical feat constituted by the transplantation of the heart of a baboon to Baby Fae rekindled the ethical debate on xenotransplantation [193,194]. The Baby Fae case was heavily covered by the media.…”