[xjcsa]

Odd...

[xjcsa]

Oops...sorry...excerpted...

[mysterio]

So can elements of a person's character be transplanted along with a heart?

No.

[DieHard the Hunter]

> So can elements of a person’s character - or even their soul - be transplanted along with a heart?

Could be. I read elsewhere, about a year ago, that there is a school of thought that some thinking processes happen OUTSIDE THE BRAIN, in all different parts of your body. According to this theory, your brain is only the major center for most thinking.

I don’t think scientists know enough about how the brain actually works to have a legitimate view on this, one way or the other, yet. I wouldn’t discount it out-of-hand.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

"The heart wants what it wants." - Woody Allen

[weegee]

Yesterday, the Mail told the extraordinary story of how a heart transplant recipient in America committed suicide - just like the man whose heart he had received 12 years previously. In another extraordinary twist, it emerged that the recipient had also married the donor's former wife.

Both of her husbands committed suicide? Was she some kind of a witch???

[avg_freeper]

Did she start speaking wombat?

No that's a different story, never mind.

[Cheapskate]

The Heart transplant/KFC and beer story has been discussed on Coast to Coast AM for years and years.

[A_perfect_lady]

Yesterday, the Mail told the extraordinary story of how a heart transplant recipient in America committed suicide - just like the man whose heart he had received 12 years previously. In another extraordinary twist, it emerged that the recipient had also married the donor's former wife.

Am I the only person that immediately suspects that woman murdered both of them and made it look like a suicide?

[Intimidator]

I got Ellen Degeneres kidney and now I want to bang women. Oh wait, I already want to do that, never mind....

[Hatteras]

"Yesterday, the Mail told the extraordinary story of how a heart transplant recipient in America committed suicide - just like the man whose heart he had received 12 years previously. In another extraordinary twist, it emerged that the recipient had also married the donor's former wife."

Duh! I'm no Columbo but even I could figure this one out...

[Paved Paradise]

People Mag did a story on this a couple of years ago - it was very interesting. There are many, many stories that support the idea that people obtaining organs exhibit some new likes or dislikes that were part and parcel of the donor’s life.

There are too many cases to dismiss this so readily. The theory is called “cell memory.” While these are just anecdotal cases and no serious study has been done, of which I am aware, people should not be too skeptical.

As a Christian, I think of the Genesis when God tells Cain that his brother’s blood is crying out to Him. I think there is something mystical about our bodies and because they are the Temple of the Holy Spirit, if one believes in Christian beliefs, then perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised to find that who we are, our essence, permeates throughout our entire bodies and incorporates every cell.

[LucyT]

“According to scientists, there are more than 70 documented cases of transplant patients taking on some of the personality traits of the organ donors.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/07/wheart107.xml

[Andy from Chapel Hill]

There are “brain” cells in your heart and your stomach. This is one reason we have “heartache” over a profound loss or “gut” feelings. Seriously. How they are connected to the other parts of the CNS is unknown.

I have seen this described in several books, but the following is the one I have on my bookshelf (note: the physiology is only briefly discussed as part of a larger thesis):

Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society (Hardcover)
by Peter M. Senge (Author), C. Otto Scharmer (Author), Joseph Jaworski (Author), Betty Sue Flowers (Author)