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Transplant doctor denies woman tried suicide
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-06 09:04 The French doctor behind the world's first partial
face transplant insisted Monday that his patient did not try to kill herself
before being mauled by her dog �� even as a British newspaper quoted her as
saying she had.
The apparent contradiction was just one of the mysteries surrounding last
week's groundbreaking operation that grafted a nose, chin and lips onto a
38-year-old woman whose face had been severely disfigured by her pet Labrador.
Graphic shows
before and after of the face transplant. [AP] |
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In her hometown, neighbors said the mother of two teenage daughters generally
kept to herself before the surgery and wore a surgical mask to hide her face
when she walked her new dog.
The case has raised questions about the ethics of performing such surgery on
someone who may have suffered psychological troubles in the past.
London's Sunday Times reported the woman acknowledged in a cell phone
interview that she took an overdose of sleeping pills during a fit of depression
this spring. That night, she was mauled by her own Labrador, in circumstances
still unclear.
The woman said the reason for her suicide attempt was "secret," according to
the newspaper, whose account was sharply contested by transplant surgeon
Jean-Michel Dubernard, who was in charge of one of the two teams that carried
out the procedure Nov. 27.
"She did not try to commit suicide, I have had to say this 10 times,"
Dubernard told The Associated Press by telephone. He declined to let AP speak to
the woman.
"She is fine �� perfect," he said. "Good general condition, graft looking
perfect, psychology �� OK."
Dubernard said the woman has not been paid for telling her story but he
conceded a British news organization that he did not name paid $3,530 to one of
her daughters for a picture of her before the mauling.
The surgeon, who also led teams that performed a hand transplant in 1998 and
the world's first double forearm transplant in 2000, said the woman would
receive royalties from selling images of her new face in a deal set up by one of
his friends.
"I do not want photographers to make money off this poor lady," Dubernard
said.
At a news conference Friday, Dubernard said the woman had taken a pill to try
to sleep after a fight with one of her daughters. But he denied she tried to
kill herself.
Doctors, citing French laws protecting the anonymity of patients, have
refused to identify the patient.
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