By Susan Scutti
Mar 27, 2014 02:17 PM EDT
MD
A science fiction staple screen-grabbed from the Syfy channel may soon be playing in a hospital near you. Surgeons at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh will be testing a new technique to save patients’ lives by placing them in a state of suspended animation,
“We are suspending life, but we don’t like to call it suspended animation because it sounds like science fiction,” Dr. Samuel Tishman, the lead surgeon in the trial told New Scientist. “So we call it emergency preservation and resuscitation.”
Possibly the wildest thing about this new technique is that clinical trial testing has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which does not require approval from the patient or the family. Since eligible patients are not likely to survive their injuries anyway, the FDA figures it’s OK for doctors to make this unusual, last-ditch effort to save a life. Once you’ve been awakened from near-death with all your blood replaced, you’ll simply be grateful… right?
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