Don't surgeons train
on animals before operating on humans?
Many surgeons have done trial procedures on
lab animals, but many others have admitted that
working on animals confuses the issue. Common
sense suggests that orthopaedic surgery on a
dog, for example, will differ greatly from that
on a human. Applying animal data to the human
body is always unscientific. Here are some examples:
- Once ophthalmologists practiced radial
keratotomy (corrective eye surgery) on rabbits,
they later tried it out on humans. After
blinding many individuals, doctors modified
the procedure for the human eye. Had they originated
their research on the human eye through in
vitro or autopsy research, these tragedies
would have been prevented.
- Extracranial-intracranial (EC-IC) bypass
procedures for inoperable carotid artery
disease were tested and perfected on dogs and
rabbits. Once approved for humans, neurosurgeons
performed thousands of EC-ICs before they discovered
the operation caused death and strokes more
often than it resulted in recovery.[27]
- Thousands of cats, dogs, pigs and primates
have been sacrificed to find successful procedures
for organ transplants. But despite the number
of practice surgeries on animals, the first
human operations fail.
By practicing procedures on non-humans, surgeons
lead patients to believe their risk is minimal.
Unfortunately, when a new method is introduced
and tested on a human subject, projected results
are no more than guesswork. By conducting the
initial operations on human cadavers, doctors
would reduce this risk and improve patient care.
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