{"id":557,"date":"2008-04-17T13:37:00","date_gmt":"2008-04-17T12:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2008\/04\/dianas-kidney-makes-french-woman-speak-english.html"},"modified":"2014-11-14T05:34:10","modified_gmt":"2014-11-14T04:34:10","slug":"dianas-kidney-makes-french-woman-speak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2008\/04\/dianas-kidney-makes-french-woman-speak.html","title":{"rendered":"Diana’s kidney makes French woman speak English"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Last week the Daily Mail gave us the shocking news that organ donors also donate their soul<\/a>. And today they\u2019ve followed up with a case report, just in case there were any doubters out there. This time, it\u2019s Princess Diana\u2019s kidney\u2026<\/p>\n

The evidence? Well, the lady in question got her kidney just two days after Diana died (there are about 4 kidney transplants every day in France<\/a>). And she\u2019s roughly the same age and also female (which does improve the chances of the graft taking<\/a>). Of course, there are a few minor problems. But to avoid them getting in the way of a good story, the Mail has buried them at the end of the article:<\/p>\n

\u2026 the Paris-based Organ Procurement Organisation believes it unlikely that her kidney was used in a transplant so far from the capital.<\/p>\n

A spokesman said: \u201cOrgans made available in Paris would go to locals because at any one time there are something like 1,000 people in Paris waiting for kidney transplants.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for La Pitie Salpetriere Hospital said she did not know if Diana\u2019s organs were removed but added: \u201cWe have no record of Diana being involved in any form of kidney transplant.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of bioethical laws and other considerations, it would have been impossible for this type of transplant to have taken place in a French hospital involving a British citizen, particularly when that person was the Princess of Wales.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Despite the fact that there is no way that this woman received Diana\u2019s kidney, strange things started to happen:<\/p>\n

\u2026she says something strange happened following her operation \u2013 she found herself peppering her conversation with English phrases.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found myself speaking English to my friends, something I don\u2019t normally do because I have no reason to,\u201d she says. \u201cI cannot explain why I did this.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well I can. It\u2019s a classic case of autosuggestion<\/a>. It began with paramedic implanting the idea in her mind. And then it was reinforced by her own ruminations:<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the way there a paramedic joked with me about the kidney coming from Princess Diana. He said I was going to receive Royal blood,\u201d Francoise told The Mail on Sunday. <\/p>\n

\u201cHis words did make me think, though. I, like many others, was affected by Diana\u2019s death. She was a person I admired and at the time she was very much on my mind. I also think the timing was too much of a coincidence. Also the Princess had roughly the same build as me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Mail, of course, has another theory. They reckon it\u2019s down to cellular memory, and bring up the same \u2018experts\u2019 as last week. But today they have another, one Professor Candace Pert<\/a> (who has a book and a lecture, and some self-help CDs she\u2019d like to sell you). Needless to say, there\u2019s no evidence to support Prof Pert\u2019s theories. Ten years ago, she did publish a review article with her theories of Psychosomatic Networks \u2013 the idea that mental states and physical function interact. That\u2019s not implausible. In fact, there\u2019s good evidence for some kinds of interactions (although not the kinds that Prof Pert would like to believe).<\/p>\n

But evidence for the idea that transplants carry with them the memories of the donor? There is not a thing. It\u2019s pseudoscientific hokum.<\/p>\n

Refs<\/span><\/p>\n

Busson M, Benoit G. Is matching for sex and age beneficial to kidney graft survival? Clinical Transplantation 1997; vol. 11, no1, pp. 15-18<\/p>\n

Pert CB, Dreher HE, Ruff MR. The psychosomatic network: foundations of mind-body medicine. Altern Ther Health Med. 1998 Jul;4(4):30-41.<\/p>\n

Pessione F, et al. Organ donation and transplantation in France in 2006. M\u00e9decine\/Science | Num\u00e9ro Double Ao\u00fbt Septembre 2007; Volume 23 n\u00b0 8.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week the Daily Mail gave us the shocking news that organ donors also donate their soul. And today they\u2019ve followed up with a case report, just in case there were any doubters out there. This time, it\u2019s Princess Diana\u2019s kidney\u2026 The evidence? Well, the lady in question got her kidney just two days after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2091,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nDiana's kidney makes French woman speak English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Last week the Daily Mail gave us the shocking news that organ donors also donate their soul. 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