Woman's face transplant 'violated ethics'

DOCTORS who gave a woman the world's first partial face transplant did not try normal reconstructive surgery first, violating the advice of a French government ethics panel, a surgeon claimed yesterday.

Dr Laurent Lantieri also said he was concerned that the patient might not have been psychologically fit for the operation and its demands.

The 38-year-old woman, whose identity has not been disclosed, had surgery to replace her nose, lips and chin in Amiens in northern France on Sunday.

The donor was a brain-dead patient whose family gave their consent. Although the woman was mauled by a dog in May, surgeons immediately sought a face-transplant donor without trying to repair her face through conventional surgical methods, according to Dr Lantieri.

"The ethics committee said this kind of transplant should never be considered as an emergency procedure," added Dr Lantieri, a reconstructive surgeon in Paris. "You cannot have informed consent as an emergency procedure."