Saturday, December 03, 2005

Face Transplant Is Freakin Me Out

This story just became even fuckin weirder. Suicide?:
"The world's first face transplant recipient suffered her injuries after trying to commit suicide, her family claimed last night.

Isabelle Dinoir, 38, was disfigured when her dog tried to wake her after she took an overdose of sleeping pills, said her 17-year-old daughter. She added: 'We don't know whether it bit or clawed her, but it managed to pull her awake. In a way, it was lucky for her that the dog was there.'

The revelation fuelled the ethical debate around the operation, which involved grafting the nose, lips and chin from a dead woman. But it infuriated the medical team who carried it out in Amiens, northern France. Leading transplant surgeon Jean-Michel Dubernard insisted: "There was no suicide attempt."

He said Mme Dinoir had taken a pill to try to sleep after a family argument and was bitten by her labrador during the night.

Dr Dubernard said several psychiatrists had examined her before the 15-hour operation and all had said she was mentally fit for it. Facial surgeon Bernard Devauchelle said his patient regained consciousness 24 hours after the surgery on Sunday. Her first words were 'Thank you.'

She has since been able to drink coffee and fruit juice, and eat strawberries and chocolate. Mme Dinoir comes from Valenciennes, in northern France. The donor was a brain-dead woman from Lille.
Um. So, "brain dead" or dead? What does the brain dead woman's family say? Did they leave her alive, with an open skeleton for a face? Finally:
"It was an accident. She loved her dog," Dr Testelin said.

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