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DEL.ICIO.USFace transplant raises tough questions
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wednesday’s announcement about a pioneering face transplant was greeted mostly with cheers. The patient, a woman who had 80% of her face transplanted with the face of a cadaver, is reportedly over the initial hurdles of recovery and stands to benefit from her new nose, palate and jaw.
But some doctors question whether facial transplants are worth the risk. After all, the drugs that the patient must take afterward can be deadly. And further, will the patient still benefit from the surgery if the transplant is rejected?
What do you think? Is the surgery worth the risks involved? Would you have the surgery knowing it might not work?
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Comments
By Jo
December 18, 2008 1:42 PM | Link to this
It’s up to the individual patient. Your body, your decision!
By Pop
December 18, 2008 2:38 PM | Link to this
This is a cruel and non-accepting world we live in. If you are the wrong color or handicaped in any way, you are picked on, ignored, shunned, and shoved aside like yesterdays trash. It is just as bad if you are overweight, or not one of the Beautiful People.
I have a dear friend, in his 80’s, who has had cancers and now has no ears, nose, and part of his throat has been removed. I’ve watched people cross the street to avoid him.
As long as we continue to judge by appearance, the emotional benifets of this surgery may far outweigh the risks.
By Lee
December 18, 2008 3:48 PM | Link to this
In addition, every transplant is an expedition into knowledge. The doctors and medical personnel learn something new everytime a transplant is made, and this adds to our store of human knowledge. Even if they often don’t work, doctors and scientists learn more whys and hows, and eventually will be able to refine the transplants and make them better operations. Remember, the first few heart surgeries didn’t always turn out well the first time- it took practice, experimentation, experience and skill to make them the routine health restoring operations htey are today. Keep doing this as needed, and keep on learning. Only a fool says we know everything at this time, and there is nothing more to learn.
Lee
By jsmooth
December 18, 2008 4:20 PM | Link to this
We live in a very superficial world. We may laugh at the stars and how plastic they can be yet in our core we emulate that same behavior. If we didn’t then a lot of plastic surgeons wouldn’t have a job. So I believe that this is a good thing for the people that have had difiguring ailments and accidents. This at least provides them with an option that was never there before. I hope though that with the advances in stem cell research, a future will not require all of the immune depressants and steriods.
We will remain the way that we are. Only because we are only human.