eli5: If someone dies in a hospital, why can’t we just give them organs and blood ASAP?
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My knowledge is limited as I’m only just beginning to get a degree in physiology. But from what I’ve learned, the most important thing to maintain in the body under abnormal conditions is blood glucose levels because glucose can be broken down with the help of oxygen to create ATP, which is energy. Without ATP, our organs can’t perform various functions and in about 4 minutes, we can have permanent brain damage if there’s no oxygen and death can occur in 4-6 minutes. The brain controls everything. Without the brain working, the blood vessels that supply oxygen in our blood to all the organs will no longer be functional and our organs will die. If someone died, you’d need to replace their brain, and brain transplants to my knowledge aren’t possible. I’m not sure if something I said was inaccurate but here are my thoughts on why we possibly can’t just replace organs and blood.
For everyone saying you wouldn’t give blood and organs to a dead person, medicine is getting much better than it was. A pig was basically brought back to life after being dead for two hours.
When we think of a person dying, we think their heart isn’t beating, but a lot of times it’s basically just “fluttering.” If we can restore blood flow to it by artificially pumping their blood and using a gas exchanger to oxygenate it, we can get adequate blood flow to it. This machine exists and is used for some surgeries. Then in theory you can defibrillate it. The heart can function if a significant portion of the cells are dead.
When blood flow is stopped to the brain for over 5 minutes, approximately, the cells start dying. Again, the brain can still function if a large portion of it is dead.
What a lot of people said regarding the finite supply of blood and organs holds true. There are only so much, and so many, of each. These are reserved for those that truly need them. If someone drinks alcohol, smokes, or uses other drugs they can be disqualified. The same holds true for people with unhealthy life choices. Also, the number of skilled surgeons who can perform these operations is limited. This is compounded by the fact if we started doing this, the system will become overburdened. Something people don’t take into account is when people have this option, they will take it, and not take care of themselves.
If you look at regenerative medicine, it is improving. This would probably be what you want to look at for cases of old age and illness. Regarding trauma, restoring blood flow and giving a transfusion would probably be the better way to go if blood supply wasn’t an issue. There aren’t enough blood donors so this is a major issue. People are constantly working on trying to improve this with artificial blood, or creating transgenic animals with compatible blood.
If this really concerns you, go to your local Red Cross or other blood bank and donate as soon as possible. See if they offer apheresis. You can do this more often and help more people.
Edit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Documentaries/comments/xmzhos/experiments_in_the_revival_of_organisms_1940/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Edit 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/longevity/comments/xlz7k8/harvard_biophysicist_regenerative_medicine_will/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Edit 3: This is the pig article I was talking about. https://www.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/wfevt3/yaledeveloped_technology_restores_cell_organ/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
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