Respecting this blog’s commitment to inform and comment on the absurdities of the day, we refer you to William Saletan’s piece in today’s Slate on Giving Head: the First Human Penis Transplant. Quotes from his report: “At one time or another, every middle-aged guy wishes he had the virility of a man half his age. In this case, that wish came horribly true…. a 44-year-old Chinese man lost all but the last half-inch of his penis. To replace it, they offered him the 4-inch member of an anonymous 22-year-old brain-dead patient whose parents had agreed to donate the organ…. You have to feel bad for this guy…. ‘He could not urinate in a standing position,’ the doctors write. ‘His quality of life was affected severely.’… Let’s start with the tactless question: Is the inability to urinate while standing an unacceptable loss of quality of life? Is every woman entitled to a penis?.â€
While the case report tells of a beautifully successful surgical procedure, “…At day 14 postoperatively because of a severe psychological problem of the recipient and his wife, the transplanted penis regretfully had to be cut off.” In their follow-up report, the doctors remain baffled. ‘What happened after the operation was still beyond our and the patient’s imagination because this was the first attempted transplantation,’ they plead.
Forgive the expression, but that excuse won’t cut it.