Profession
French transplant nose, lips and chin to dog-bite victim
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Dec. 19, 2005
French physicians announced late last month that they successfully transplanted a nose, lips and chin from a brain-dead donor to a dog-bite victim.
French ethics authorities rejected an application to try a complete facial transplant last year, ruling that it was too risky a procedure to perform in a non-lifesaving situation. But the ethicists approved a more limited facial operation.
In the United States, physicians at the Cleveland Clinic and the University of Louisville in Kentucky are exploring complete facial transplantation surgery. The Cleveland Clinic, which bioethicists have criticized for not engaging in a deeper ethics discussion, is now screening candidates for the surgery, in a process that a spokeswoman said would take months.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2005/12/19/prbf1219.htm.
