Keywords, machine extracted. Top 50 words repeated twice, next 100 once, plus phrases. Since then, scientific, technical, and meclical advances have made organ transplantation a relatively common procedure. If not for a severe shortage of available organs, many thousands of other patients would receive transplants. Biological materials taken from humans serve a number of other purposes besides transplantation, according to Arthur Caplan, professor of philosophy and surgery and director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics at the University of Minnesota.
Human materials are essential in a wide range of biomedical research and training.
Some human materials, such as blood plasma and sperm, are used for medical procedures unrelated to transplants. The sources of human materials are as diverse as their uses, spanning the entire range of human development. Human materials can come from sex cells, embryos, fetuses, abortuses, newborns, children, adults, and cadavers. In some cases, such as blood donations, human materials can be removed without harming the donor. In other cases, the materials are essential to life and therefore can be removed only after death.