A computer generated image showing details of the partial face transplant. (Xinhua/ Reuters)
BEIJING, Dec. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- The French woman who received the world's first facial transplant is recovering well, but doctors are concerned about her psychological health.
The media frenzy about the goundbreaking operation, doctors say, is complicating the recovery of the recipient, identified as Isabelle Dinoire.
Dinoire, disfigured when her dog mauled her earlier this year, underwent the operation on Nov. 27 in which doctors grafted a nose, chin and lips from the donor onto her face.
"Clinically, she's excellent," Dr. Bernard Devauchelle, the surgeon who performed the transplant, said late Monday. But psychologically, he added, she is only "good enough," because of the mounting media pressure she is under.
Among the most disturbing aspects of the debate are conflicting reports from doctors about whether the transplant was the result of two suicide attempts, one successful by the donor, and one failed by the recipient.
If Dinoire's disfigurement resulted from an attempted suicide, it would raise questions about her emotional stability and her ability to consent to such a risky operation.
Reports that the donor committed suicide also have implications for Dinoire's future, because if true, and if the transplant is successful, it would mean that for the rest of her life, she would see in the mirror the nose, mouth and chin of a woman who herself met a brutal end.
Local newspapers have quoted one of Ms. Dinoire's daughters as saying that on the night of May 27, the family dog scratched and bit away her mother's face after she had tried to commit suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills. According to The Sunday Times of Britain, Dinoire herself confirmed the fact earlier this month.
A doctor who is a member of the regulatory agency that approved the procedure has called for an investigation into the administrative steps taken for that approval.
Britain's Mail on Sunday printed the name of the donor and her hometown in northern France. The donor has been identified as Maryline St. Aubert, 46, from the northern city of Cambrai, 20 miles from Dinoire's home.
The director of France's organ donation agency was shocked that newspapers abroad have identified the donor for the operation, saying anonymity in transplant cases is vital for donors' families.
"I find it extremely shocking, I find it absolutely scandalous," said Carine Camby, director-general of French Biomedicine Agency.
"For many families, it is important to be able to mourn in peace, not to be disturbed by the neighborhood or the press or possibly the family of the recipient, or the recipient himself," she said.
Her government agency, which manages waiting lists of transplant patients and allocates organs, said in a separate statement it was worried that the principle of donor anonymity was under attack.
It said 11,500 people in France require transplants each year and "should be able to continue to count on the generosity of donors and of their families." Enditem
(Agencies)
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