From: mcochran@nyx.cs.du.edu (Mark A. Cochran)
Subject: Re: Christian Pro-Choicers
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Date: Sat, 23 Jan 93 17:43:46 GMT

In article <lm17p3INNe81@ar-rimal.cs.utexas.edu> brinkley@cs.utexas.edu (Paul Brinkley) writes:
>In article <1993Jan21.215507.10830@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> mcochran@nyx.cs.du.edu (Mark A. Cochran) writes:
>
>>Unlike you, however, I live in the Real World (tm) and this just is
>>not going to be a reality anytime soon. If you want to leave it open
>>to *incredibly* expensive metal mommas, then in perhaps 50-75 years,
>>we might see something. But an inexpensive one? Kibble, a vaccine
>>against the mumps will cost you $50 in most pediatricians office. And
>>the cost certainly is not going down. If you can envision an
>>inexpensive metal moma in the near future, you're either desperately in
>>need of a reality check, or merely woefully ignorant about life
>>support technologies.
>>But since it's you, it's quite possibly both.
>
>A workable, relatively inexpensive computer seemed unlikely in the near
>future around the 1930s, until the Army jumped on the chance to make
>possible a machine that could make their shells strike more accurately.
>One thing leads to another, and now we have Sparc Workstations for a measly
>five thousand bucks.
>
>(Well okay, so it's been fifty years since the Army invested in it.
>At least it was on the low end of your estimate, Mark.  :)  )
>
>My point is that the turmoil caused by the abortion issue could speed
>things up incredibly.  Being a non-medical person, I can only sit by
>and hope.  (If it needs a program to run, though, gimme a call!)  If
>not a "metal momma", maybe something else.  We'll come up with something.
>
>Remember when they said it was definitely impossible to discover the
>chemical makeup inside a star?
>
Comparing these two technologies is reaching so far you're likely to
fall off your limb. Hope all you want. Make some contributions to
research foundations either. But if and when a metal momma is built,
it's not going to be cheap. If you think it will be, then kindly
present me with an example of any sophisticated medical technique or
procedure which has reduced in cost.
Lets look at some current examples.
One of the technologies that any metal momma will have to have is the
ability to oxygenate and ventilate the fetus. We currently do
something that is similar to this with preemies, called ECMO (Extra
Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation). Lets look at what this costs...
The machine itself, at a cost of roughly $4.5 million.
A specially trained ECMO tech (who starts out as an RN before
receiving the specialized traiing) who will cost about $500 a day. (1
tech per baby, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.)
An RN with ICN certification, about another $400 a day, or more.
Respiratory therapists, lab personel, physical therapists, cardiac
techs, a neonatologist for the general medical needs, a neonatal
pulmonologist to handle the ECMO and ventilator, dieticians,
pharmacologists, etc etc.
Oh, and did we mention little things lie a building to house all this?
The ancillary equipment, like mechanical ventiloators,
cardiac/respiratory monitors, sterile supplies which must be replaced
regularly, and ongoing maintanence of all of the above?
How about the cost of continueing education to keep people capable of
performing at the highest standards?
How could I *possibly* think this would be expensive? After all, what
you're asking for is only an order of magnitude more complex then what
we do now.
I think 'Tom Swift and his Metal Momma' will be the only place a cheap
fetal-stage incubator shows up any time soon.

--
                  Mark Cochran          merlin@eddie.ee.vt.edu
These are the views of my employer, your employer, your government, the
Church of your choice, and the Ghost of Elvis. So there.
Member, T.S.A.K.C.
Newsgroups: talk.abortion