I'm not sure what was the point of including this gem from good old Arthur Caplan in part of the discussion about the so-far-successful facial transplant announced this week by spokespeople for the Cleveland Clinic.
Bioethicist Dr. Arthur Caplan, chairman of the University of Pennsylvania's Medical Ethics Department, said Wednesday on CNN's "American Morning" that he initially had similar qualms about the facial transplant, which improves the quality rather than saving a life, but was gradually persuaded.
People with major facial disfigurements "don't come out and basically stay at home and have a huge suicide rate," Caplan said. "They're really up against it."
He said patients should be given an out if their bodies reject the transplanted face and are forced to live in a life of pain where they're unable to breathe or eat on their own.
"I think you have to go in here saying to the person who tries this, 'If you get in that situation, we would be willing to either not give you treatment that would keep you going, or maybe give a lot of morphine to push you out of the picture to help you to die,' " he said.
He added, "I know it's a radical thing to say [but] imagine living with no face."
Caplan said he was "talking about potential suicide as an option if the surgery doesn't work. It's not something that anybody has said, that I've ever said before. But I think the misery involved and the failure here is almost unimaginable to ask someone to keep going on and on that way."
Cheer up! If your facial reconstructive surgery fails, you can always kill yourself!
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