Abstract
The complicated history of face transplantation.
If there had been no such procedure before and the outcomes were uncertain, how could consent be secured?
Face transplants are an innovative, still experimental form of modern surgery. Just 47 have taken place around the world to date (including two retransplants)1 and none yet in the UK even though in 2003, Peter Butler's team at London's Royal Free Hospital was poised to undertake the world's first face transplant. Concerned about the media attention given to face transplants, and the ethical and surgical issues involved, The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) assembled a working party that concluded that it could not give approval for face transplants, effectively bringing to a halt the UK's momentum in the field.
The details of RCS England's decision (and its subsequent approval for face transplants under highly specific circumstances) are the subject of another article by one of the authors.2 In this paper, we will focus on what we have learnt in the 16 years since the first face transplant took place, in France, and the psychological, social, immunological and ethical challenges that remain.
If there had been no such procedure before and the outcomes were uncertain, how could consent be secured?
Face transplants are an innovative, still experimental form of modern surgery. Just 47 have taken place around the world to date (including two retransplants)1 and none yet in the UK even though in 2003, Peter Butler's team at London's Royal Free Hospital was poised to undertake the world's first face transplant. Concerned about the media attention given to face transplants, and the ethical and surgical issues involved, The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) assembled a working party that concluded that it could not give approval for face transplants, effectively bringing to a halt the UK's momentum in the field.
The details of RCS England's decision (and its subsequent approval for face transplants under highly specific circumstances) are the subject of another article by one of the authors.2 In this paper, we will focus on what we have learnt in the 16 years since the first face transplant took place, in France, and the psychological, social, immunological and ethical challenges that remain.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Type | Discussion |
| Media of output | The Bulletin of the Royal College of Surgeons of England |
| Publisher | Royal College of Surgeons of England |
| Edition | 8 |
| Volume | 103 |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Nov 2021 |