The Washington Post took a look at the human side and the ethical side of hand transplantation in a front-page story on June 14.
The story, in part, tells the tale of Matthew Scott, the 39-year-old New Jersey paramedic who in January 1999 was the recipient of so far the only hand transplant in the United States. Mr. Scott has been widely quoted as saying he never felt whole after losing his hand in a firecracker accident 13 years ago.
However, surgeons and others have debated the ethics of transplanting a limb that a person could easily live without. Why open a patient up to the possibility of cancer and other health problems that immunosuppressive drugs could prompt if you don't have to, they ask.
The newspaper said that six patients have so far been the recipients of eight transplants, two of which were double transplants, and none have been rejected. It quotes some surgeons who favor a moratorium on further transplants until longer-term results are available on these pioneering transplants. However, the surgeons who performed Mr. Scott's transplant at Jewish Hospital in Louisville and those who performed the first modern transplant-on Australian Clint Hallam in France in September 1998-plan to conduct more transplants.
In addition to the United States and France, reports of hand transplants have come from China and Austria. Two days before the Washington Post published its article, Reuters news service reported that "the world's first arm and hand transplant to a baby" was performed May 18 at Selayang Hospital in Malaysia. Reuters' brief article said that the less-than-a-month-old baby received the left arm and hand from her identical twin sister, who died at birth.
For Your Information:
View the Washington Post story at www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30542-2000Jun9.html.
Please be aware that medical advice, diagnoses and physician references cannot be obtained from this site.