Personality Transplanted With Organs?

Does anyone remember this episode of 'The Simpsons' -



Well, apparently, the concept being lampooned here may actually have some basis in fact.

Scientists have long speculated whether or not living tissues retains 'memory' of sorts, which is a similar notion to the one that says water has memory.

Amputees have long been known to feel 'sensation' in a body part which is no longer there (I believe this is called a 'phantom limb'), but evidence also seems to exist which suggests that personality traits may be carried over from donor to recipient when an organ is transplanted -

Gary Schwartz, professor of Psychology at the University of Arizona, will present fascinating new research into transplant memory which suggests that some people who have received organ transplants seem to undergo major personality transformations, and even develop new abilities which the donor possessed.

The following two examples are given -

In one such case, a young dancer received a heart-and-lung transplant. Before the operation, she had been very health-conscious; yet, the very first thing she did on leaving the hospital was to head for a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet, and wolf down an order of chicken nuggets‹something she would never have done before. Her personality changed, too: she became aggressive and impetuous whereas, before, she had been calm and conservative.

She decided to investigate and, after much battling against the medical bureaucracy, she discovered that her heart­lung donor was an 18-year-old man who had died in a motorcycle accident. He had been an aggressive and impetuous lad who had a passion for Kentucky Fried Chicken‹in fact, uneaten KFC nuggets had been found in his motorcycle jacket on the very day of his death.

Another notable case is that of an eight-year-old girl who had received the heart of a 10-year-old girl who had been brutally murdered. After the transplant, the recipient began to experience horrifying nightmares. Her dreams were consistently about being murdered, and they were so traumatic that a psychiatrist was called in to help. What he heard convinced him that the girl was describing the actual circumstances of her donor¹s murder. When the details were given to the police, these proved to be so accurate that the killer was easily identified and apprehended.

How strange this phenomenon is. Imagine getting a life saving operation only to find that you aren't really yourself afterwards. It may seem hard to believe, but who is to say that such a thing not possible?

I originally read this article in a Sunday newspaper, and I can't link to it here, but in it it also said that such an occurence happens in about 10% of transplant patients.

Link

(Edit: Title)

[edit on 12-3-2006 by KhieuSamphan]

Whilst working on a cardio ward, my wife had a patient whom had had a heart lung transplant a week before.

The person was doing well, and when they came round and started to recover, all this poor person could think about was a craving to have a cigar and scotch.

The funny thing was the patient was tee total and never smoked in their life...

Theres just so much we don't know about ourselves and our bodies its scary.

This sounds like a lot of anecdotal evidence without a lot of science behind it. I could just as easily prove that aliens exist because two of my friends swear they saw one.

~MFP

Originally posted by bsl4doc
This sounds like a lot of anecdotal evidence without a lot of science behind it. I could just as easily prove that aliens exist because two of my friends swear they saw one.

~MFP

Hmm. What do you make of this -

Wikipedia

Dr. Schwartz's major research focus has been in the controversial field of parapsychology. The stated goal of The VERITAS Research Program is "using individuals called mediums to communicate with the deceased" and using scientific methodology and protocols to measure the results. Subject mediums have included television-psychic John Edward and "researcher"-psychic Allison DuBois. Some of his experiments have been funded and featured by HBO premium television network.

Hmm, well, that's just a wikipedia article giving the biography of a professor. No research or anything there. Produce some research on the topic and I'll definitely be interested.
~MFP

Originally posted by bsl4doc
This sounds like a lot of anecdotal evidence without a lot of science behind it. I could just as easily prove that aliens exist because two of my friends swear they saw one.

~MFP

I agree with you thats BS. Your personality resides in your brain and is controlled by your brain. Not your heart or lungs. Hasnt anyone hear of the story with the guy who got a railroad spike in his head? He lived but the area of the brain that was damaged controlled his personality. The guy(sorry I forgot his name) had a severe personality change instead of being happy and friendly. The guy became depressed and shy.

Could "Chemical dependence" be passed on?

No. Chemical dependence occurs when a drug either destroys or causes formation of neurons. Thus, when the drug is absent, there is either an over or understimulation of those neurons. This is not related to organ transplantation, and could not be passed on.

~MFP

I have never seen or heard of this and I work in a busy and I do mean busy pediatric organ transplant center. We do heart, heart lung, liver, liver / small bowel, multi viceral organ, kidney etc etc etc and see the patients for years after.

One thing that can change behavior is the ongoing regime of steriods and the like used for anti rejection.

Very interesting, FredT. I've yet to work with a patient on heavy steroid dosage, so the idea of a shift in personality is quite intriguing to me.

~MFP