SW Medtech question

[Lord Revan]

ok there might thread about this, but I recently reread the Med-star dualogy and it's implied in there that in GFFA it's possible to either reattach missing limbs, but still it seems alot more common to use cybernetic replacements.

so my question is that why is this done?

reason I could think of was a)technology to reattach limbs is rare and/or expensive and most places can't afford it (incident leading up to the limb reattachment happend in Alderaan) B) it's hard or impossible with certain types of wounds to reattach the limb c)there might be a time limit after which you cannot do reattachments, something that as far as I know doesn't exist in cybernetic implants d)any combination of above.

so what's your take?

[Bounty]

The original might not be available? I'd imagine many accidents would either leave the limb lost or damaged beyond recovery - at least beyond the point where it'd be easier and quicker to just slap on a droid hand that'd work just as nicely.

[Venator]

The original might not be available? I'd imagine many accidents would either leave the limb lost or damaged beyond recovery - at least beyond the point where it'd be easier and quicker to just slap on a droid hand that'd work just as nicely.

That alone pretty well covers most of the examples from the movie.

Luke's hand in TESB? Crushed by a gas giant.

Anakin's everything in ROTS? Lava.

It doesn't cover Anakin's hand replacement from the first time around (AOTC), but above and beyond technological limits mentioned above, the Republic was going to war; I've heard it mentioned before that a utilitarian robotic arm might simply be more practical for such a situation.

[Bounty]

It doesn't cover Anakin's hand replacement from the first time around (AOTC)

Assuming someone bothered to pick up the hand after the fight, that this happened before the hand's tissue deteriorated beyond the point where it was viable, and that the lightsaber's burn didn't destroy too much tissue to make reattachment practical.

[Havok]

Well, think about a steak when it gets hot. It shrinks up pretty quick, just at about 350-400 degrees. How hot is a lightsaber blade that can cut through a starship bulk head like butter? I would imagine that if a fairly wide section of Anakin's arm didn't actually burn away, that at the very least it cauterized deep enough that getting to the parts you needed to to reattach the limb would leave him centimeters short on his arm.

[Connor MacLeod]

Probably just easier to clone the arm and re-attach that, but cloning (at least in the OT era) is supposed to be illegal.

I imagine cloning body parts is also more expensive than a mechanical replacement. Much the same way droids are cheaper/faster to make than clones.

Given the damage most Star Wars weapons are capable of seems likely that simply "re-attaching" lost limbs is not always going to be an answer, or at least not the simple one.

[Venator]

It doesn't cover Anakin's hand replacement from the first time around (AOTC)

Assuming someone bothered to pick up the hand after the fight, that this happened before the hand's tissue deteriorated beyond the point where it was viable, and that the lightsaber's burn didn't destroy too much tissue to make reattachment practical.

Good point; I could have picked up on that with more consideration, but it wasn't as obvious at the time as the other two.

[havocfett]

Perhaps in most situations a robotic limb is more desirable anyways? Robotic limbs allow someone to do anything they'd want to do with their normal limb plus some and you don't feel pain. At the very least for people who are going to be in combat or something that involves personal work it might be more useful.

[Batman]

There's a reason we feel pain. Without it, you don't know your limb is actually damaged so they'd have to build something like it into a robotic limb anyway.
And as long as it is attached to a human body a robotic limb can't do much more than a natural one (possibly excepting improvements in fine manipulation) because while the LIMB might be able to deal with the higher stress, the BODY isn't. Your arm being able to lift 15 tons isn't worth much if your shoulder joint can't support the weight.

[Darth Ruinus]

Luke's robotic hand in TESB shows pain, the robot who attaches it prods it with a needle (IIRC) to test if it is reactive to pain.

[JointStrikeFighter]

Luke's robotic hand in TESB shows pain, the robot who attaches it prods it with a needle (IIRC) to test if it is reactive to pain.

And he gets shot in the hand in ROTJ and shows pain.

[Samuel]

This discussion occured before. Check under "why is SW biotech so weak".

For the most part, they use cybernetic replacements because we are seeing cases where it is people on a budget or trying to inspire terror.

[Bounty]

Perhaps in most situations a robotic limb is more desirable anyways?

Never underestimate the degree to which humans are (quite rightly!) emotionally attached to their bodies. If I had the choice between a robotic limb and the original, assuming either operation has equal chance of success, I'd take my original hand over a Robo-mitten any day.

[Shroom Man 777]

Well... Anakin and Luke really didn't show much problems with their robotic limbs, you'd expect Anakin to brood and angst over it, but he didn't and he actually tooled around with his prosthetic like any other mechanical thing he usually plays with. I don't know about the novelizations or the EU, but it seems to me that people in Star Wars aren't really reluctant to get robot limbs... it's just the way things are.

Besides, cloning an arm would take longer than just finding some robot replacement. In a galaxy where there are countless amputees from countless species, using a one-size-fits-all prosthetic robot limb might be easier than fabricating a squishy biological replacement custom-tailored for humans, or reptiloids, or bug-people, or mollusk men. Biological replacements have to factor in allergies, organ/tissue rejection, etc... unless if it's cloned limbs, but even then there'd be growth times to consider.

With the case of the clone troopers... it would be different, if all of them are EXACTLY the same - meaning the limbs and replacement organs they would need would also be identical. But the Clones were altered to be more receptive to follow commands and orders, whereas commando clones were unaltered so they could be more independent, right? So clone commandos might not have this benefit, or replacement parts might be less available for them than the regular clones.

Dead clones could also have their organs and limbs harvested and donated to injured clones. Man, that would be freaky, stitching bits and pieces together, all Frankensteinian!

Anyway, there could be simple limb replacement kits with easy-to-follow instructions that any simple surgeon could perform, or something. An Acclamator or Imperator or other warships that carry troop contingents could carry not just designated numbers of guns, ammunition, food rations, and whatnot, but replacement robot limbs could also be in the inventory for medical supplies as well. They'd be much easier to store than any hippothitecal pre-made biological squishy replacements too!

[CaptainChewbacca]

This discussion occured before. Check under "why is SW biotech so weak".

For the most part, they use cybernetic replacements because we are seeing cases where it is people on a budget or trying to inspire terror.

I was under the impression part of the reason they didn't clone limbs is because of the psychological trauma over the clone wars.

[Swindle1984]

Cloning is probably illegal in order to prevent some rich guy or corporation from starting up a clone army of their own. If you can clone a limb or organ, then you can certainly clone an entire person. Thus, a total ban on all cloning, even for medical purposes.

[Illuminatus Primus]

I thought they did have clone limbs, like Fett talking about his in the Tales of the Bounty Hunters anthology.

[Swindle1984]

I thought they did have clone limbs, like Fett talking about his in the Tales of the Bounty Hunters anthology.

That was a black market operation. He specifically mentions that cloning is illegal and he has to deal with shady people to get his leg replaced.

In the same anthology, Zuckus gets new lungs, despite cloning being illegal, thanks to the rebellion.

Both of those take place during the Empire. I've never heard any indication that cloning was legalized during the New Republic, but we do know the stigma against clones is alive and well during that period.

[Illuminatus Primus]

What a no-limits fallacy on part of the authors. Why would being able to clone organs and limbs mean you automatically would be capable of growing loyal, functioning, reliable troops economically in so far that it'd be a realistic threat? Its like banning pool chlorine because theoretically you could make chemical weapons from it.

[Batman]

It's a no limits fallacy on the part of the characters, really, and one I don't find particularly hard to believe. They KNOW that you CAN clone
loyal, functioning, reliable troops economically in so far that it'd be a realistic threat (as evidenced by the Clone Wars) so them being paranoid about any cloning period (even small-scale special applications cloning that would never work for actually cloning an entire person, leave alone an army of them and modify their behaviour while you're at it) to the point where cloning, ANY cloning, would be illegal, isn't all that much of a stretch.

[Samuel]

Having it enforced is. The Empire doesn't control the entire galaxy- it has put states in many locations. Why isn't it legal in one of those?

[Batman]

Um yes the Empire DOES control the entire galaxy (mostly). It grants a great deal of autonomy to local authorities in some cases (like the CSA and the Centrality) but that doesn't mean those authorities get to blithely ignore Imperial law.

[Swindle1984]

Yeah, ignoring Imperial law tends to make a Star Destroyer show up in orbit and then they start asking awkward questions.

[Lord Revan]

btw we do know that Lightsabers don't destroy tissue so badly that you can't reattach limbs severed by lightsabers (the incident refered in the OP involved some rioters and a jedi knight acting as bodyguard for a senator).

[Darth Ruinus]

Anyway, there could be simple limb replacement kits with easy-to-follow instructions that any simple surgeon could perform, or something.

In ROTS when Vader is getting his robotic legs attached, it is hilariously fast and easy. The lower leg is set next to the knee, and the medical droid simply screws it on and it starts moving immediately.

1:40-1:48. Whole thing takes 8 seconds.