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An identity transplant?

Michael A. Dingwall (michael_a_dingwall@hotmail.com)

A few weeks ago doctors in France announced a medical first. A woman who was badly mauled by a dog – losing a substantial portion of her face in the process, was given a new face. Actually, what made this particular surgery so unique is the fact that she was given the face of a recently deceased person. However, what are the implications of this medical first?

Surgeries similar to these are becoming more and more frequent, with the advance of science and technology. Some years ago, a man in Great Britain who lost his arms in an industrial accident was fitted with the arms of a recently deceased man. From time to time, we hear of internal organs being removed from dead people and being placed in the bodies of living ones.

"Also, what will soon become of our dead? Increasingly, science is finding more uses for dead people. Their organs are being used, or should I say re-used, by the living. In recent times, we see even external body parts being used – like that case with the British man and his new arms. It seems certain, that in the future, as more and more uses for the dead are realized, they will no longer be buried. Their organs may be removed for storage and their bodies may be placed in permanent storage – either in whole or in dismembered parts."

However, the woman who got the new face (or the old face, depending on how one looks at it) signaled something new. In the report, the woman remained anonymous. As with any other transplants like this one, the woman would have to be placed on medication to enable her body to accept the new face. However, there are certainly some issues that we must consider.

For example, how will such future transplants be physiologically accepted by the society, the friends of these recipients, the friends of the deceased and by the recipients themselves? How would the friends of the dead person whose face was used in such surgeries react when they see that face on another person’s shoulders? Would it be true to say that, in many respects, in accepting the face of another, the recipient is also accepting that dead person’s identity and giving up some of his?

That French woman who got that face did so out of necessity – a vicious dog bit off most of her original face. When such surgeries are perfected in the future (and it seems, the near future) will people be doing things because they want to and not necessarily because they have to? Will these surgeries become elective? People are already having plastic surgeries. Will they soon be having, effectively, face transplants?

Also, what will soon become of our dead? Increasingly, science is finding more uses for dead people. Their organs are being used, or should I say re-used, by the living. In recent times, we see even external body parts being used – like that case with the British man and his new arms. It seems certain, that in the future, as more and more uses for the dead are realized, they will no longer be buried. Their organs may be removed for storage and their bodies may be placed in permanent storage – either in whole or in dismembered parts.

These days, science and technology continues to advance at a very rapid rate. New discoveries and techniques are being announced more frequently. It is true that as man continues to apply his brain, he continues to do things that seemed impossible, even nonsensical just a few years ago. Like it or not, this is where science is going – in a direction that will make most modern medical problems history.

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