[slightlyovertaxed]

What!? Why can't you just put it in some tupperware with some fluids (I assume he had a good reason for using her abdomen as a depository). Good to see the dedication these doctors have.

Human tissue, by and large, isn't much like a plant cutting. You can't just stick it in a jar of nutrients and hope that it doesn't die in the interim (or grow a whole new bit :p). Remember that a bone is many cell layers thick and something has to get waste products out and O2, minerals, protein, etc. in. Putting it in her body is the safest thing and is very common. Skin grafts, for example.

[Constantine XI Palaeologus]

Thanks for the info. I just assumed it'd die in there since it wouldn't be connected to anything (not that you would want it growing onto some part of the body). I never was any good in biology.