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On December 9 2008, 45-year-old Connie Culp became the first person in the United States, and only the fourth in the world, to receive a face transplant. Connie's transplant took a team at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio more than 22 hours to perform and allowed her to eat solid food again, to smell, and to breathe independently. Four years earlier, Connie had been shot in the face by her husband, who was subsequently imprisoned for seven years for aggravated attempted murder. Sadly, Connie died on July 29 2020, of an as yet unspecified infection.
[...] Understanding the psychological effects of living with visible facial difference, as well as a new face, is very important. Every surgical solution has emotional consequences, which are less documented than physical results. This reflects the context in which face transplants take place. Scientific medicine tends to focus on physical rather than mental measurements, and on the immediate "before and after" rather than the prolonged, complex work of psychological healing.
Surgical teams around the world are beginning to assess the quality of life outcomes of face transplants, but progress is slow. International comparisons are difficult to make, even in physical terms. Nine face transplant patients have died, and two faces have been rejected, but there are few examples of long term, holistic follow-up. Given Connie's work in raising public awareness of the impact of living with facial difference, there will be no more appropriate legacy than a better understanding of the benefits and limitations of face transplants.
The psychological wounds of the procedure may be harder to heal than the physical ones.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by choose another one on Wednesday August 19 2020, @08:31PM (2 children)
Except I bet she was probably on Immunosuppressants for life to prevent rejection of the transplant.
Guess what happens when you get infections when your immune system is suppressed? - nothing good.
Still, you're usually fairly safe as long as there aren't any serious infections spreading round significant portion of the population...
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 19 2020, @09:05PM (1 child)
That's it. Declare the cause of death as COVID, and the murderer is Trump.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday August 20 2020, @04:29PM
She may well have died from a COVID infection or gangrene or any number of infections that would be very problematic for someone who's immune system isn't up to snuff. Now, perhaps she was physically, fully healthy. Then went skiing on some random lake and got an amoeba in her brain, which killed her. That instance would definitely not be her ex-husband's fault. But, it's very likely, that he was indirectly responsible for her early death due to infection. Maybe she was a kind, forgiving person, and didn't hold a grudge against him, so he got a lighter 7 year sentence. She has the prerogative to feel that way, but as a society, we don't want someone running around, who feels they can just up and shoot someone in the face. The use of lethal force should have oversight. That doesn't mean that you should be able to tell someone not to have a gun to protect themselves. It does mean that, if someone shoots someone else, they better have a Real Good reason. Generally, shooting your wife in the face, wouldn't be counted as a Real Good reason. Sure, there might be edge cases, like my wife was in the middle of Lorena Bobbiting me or the like.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"