WE have come to accept organ transplants as a routine miracle of modern medicine, but the operation on Gordon Goodchild is still astonishing.

His story is amazing in two ways. The kidney donor is none other than his wife, Sue. Her sacrifice must be ultimate proof of the love shared by this Norton couple.

And the transplant itself was undertaken using keyhole surgery. It is hard for the layman to comprehend the skill of surgeon Giles Goodchild, who carried out this operation. We can only to marvel at a technique that is safer than previous methods, leaves a much smaller scar, and allows the patient to leave hospital within days.

This is the second remarkable operation to have been undertaken at St James's Hospital in Leeds in a matter of days. York baby Aimee Fowler is recovering after being given half the liver of a donor. The other half saved the life of a Nottingham man.

Critically ill children and adults have lives saved and transformed thanks to the development of revolutionary treatments and the brilliance of surgeons.

However, medical progress is not always unanimously welcomed. Last night the House of Lords debated a proposal to extend research on human embryos.

Supporters of the move argue that the research would bring hope to those facing terminal decline due to diseases such as Alzheimer's - in the same way that new organ transport techniques have brought hope to Aimee Fowler and Gordon Goodchild.

But critics oppose embryonic research on moral and ethical grounds. They also fear that it will inevitably lead to the cloning of humans, a concept that most people find abhorrent.

Facing these difficult issues, the Lords hammered out a sensible compromise. Further research will go ahead on condition that a select committee is set up to scrutinise this whole area of medicine.

This middle course should ensure that further medical progress is sufficiently slowed to allow us the time to consider its moral implications.

Updated: 10:36 Tuesday, January 23, 2001