Month: December 17, 2008

In all seriousness, this story has strong ethical implications.

http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=1f3c75d5-4ef6-4cb0-9f33-4d3edf16d47e

A woman, who is being kept anonymous, has received a face transplant in Cleveland. This procedure has been done three other times but not in the United States and not to such a great extent (80% of her face is from a cadaver). The operation took twenty two hours and the team of experts that were involved in the procedure sound confident that it was a success. They still have to wait for swelling to go down to really know, but there’s a great deal of optimism about it.

The patient was chosen from a body of candidates who were put through all sorts of tests both psychological and physical. The drugs she has to take, for the rest of her life, will weaken her immune system so that her body doesn’t reject the face but the side effect is losing up to ten years off her life.

Mostly, I’m interested in the psychological and ethical implications of such a procedure. For one, when this person looks into the mirror they’re going to look like a human being that has died. There have been experiments recently where people are taken out of their body, psychologically, using virtual reality devices, and placed into the body of someone else and the impact is drastic. For instance, racists were placed into the body of someone from the race they hated and it was very convincing for those people. For a bit, they actually believe that they are that other person. Think of what this means for this woman when she looks into the mirror and someone else stares back at her.

The ethical questions are also numerous. What about the family of the donor? Their dead relative is practically walking around in a different life and I don’t mean heaven. What if these people met? What happens if people start entering into this procedure just because they want to look different? Is there anything wrong with that? After all, plastic surgery is an accepted reality anymore. This could be a new extension of that idea. Along with genetic engineering, we’re getting closer and closer to being able to literally make ourselves into whatever we want. For my part, I’m going to try and remain optimistic. Maybe looks will be unimportant once everyone is beautiful.