Clinic That Did 1st Face Transplant U.S. Treating Chimp Attack Victim

[RamboLiberal]

Charla Nash, 55, has been taken to the Cleveland Clinic, the Associated Press reports.

The clinic is the first medical facility in the United States to perform a face transplant.

Nash had been at Stamford Hospital for treatment after being mauled by a chimpanzee in Stamford Monday. She was moved to Cleveland Clinic Thursday afternoon, a Stamford Hospital spokesperson said she was moved to another hospital that specializes in the care she will need after being.

Nash suffered extensive facial damage, including damage to her nose, jaw and eyes, along with hand injuries, when she was attacked, Dr. Kevin Miller of Stamford Hospital said Wednesday.

Because of the extensive damage to Nash’s face, there has been discussion over whether she would be a candidate for a face transplant. No decision has been made, the New York Times reports.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29285060/

Her hands looked like they were wrecked by a machine. Eyes wounded, hair yanked out. Face and scalp injuries so extensive, all the blood obscured whatever parts were left.

Two of the first medical workers to treat the woman mauled by a chimpanzee in Connecticut this week described her nightmarish injuries Thursday as she was transferred to the Cleveland hospital that performed the nation's first face transplant.

Nash's hands were horribly disfigured, but still attached to her wrists.

"I would liken it to a machine-type accident," Ackley said. "She had some crushing injuries to her hands and some tearing injuries to her hands."

Her head injuries "involved her entire face and scalp," Ackley said. Nash's eyes were injured, but Ackley would not say how extensively. Her hair had been ripped out.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/sns-ap-chimpanzee-attack-victim,0,4977768.story

I feel really sorry for this poor woman. What horrible injuries.

[kestrel91316]

1. Remind me to never go anywhere near a chimpanzee that isn't

locked securely in a cage (or otherwise confined to prevent this sort of thing).

[MercutioATC]

2. Kestrel,

Never go anywhere near a chimpanzee that isn't locked securely in a cage (or otherwise confined to prevent this sort of thing).

[Warpy]

3. Given your line of work, that might be difficult

although you do have tranquilizers at your disposal. Use 'em.

There were times I wished I'd had tranquilizer darts available, mostly for misbehaving families.

[kestrel91316]

4. I knew there was a good reason I never became a zoo vet or went into

laboratory research. But my primate fears always revolved around having monkey poop thrown in my face, and being bitten and contracting simian herpes encephalitis.

Having my hands and face removed never entered into my considerations........

[depakid]

11. Speaking of that

Not to denegrate the very serious nature of the OP, but some years ago at the LA zoo, we had a chance observe two loud and obnoxious women pointing at one of the Orangutans and laughing. Not sure if the habitats are still like this- but at the time, they were open and surrounded by a concrete moat. The Orang put its hand down and as quick and accurate as a softball pitcher, flung apeshit right in their faces and all over their shirts.

This was follwed by considerable gagging, vomiting and stomping about- as well as laughter for days afterwards by yours truly and his companions.

People don't seem to get it about higher primates. They're not that different from humans- more than capable of our range of emotions (and malice aforethought).

[SoCalDem]

12. When I was 4 or 5, we stopped at one of those lame roadsize zoos in Florida

and a mandrill grabbed my ponytail, and pulled my head to the bars.. It took my father and two zoo-helpers with brooms, several minutes to make him let it go..They were ready to cut my hair, but my mother threw a fit.. meanwhile, the damned thing lifted me off the ground by my hair..

For those who don;t know what a mandrill looks like:



the one who grabbed my hair kinda looked more like this:

[kestrel91316]

13. OMG, what a horrifying experience!

[SoCalDem]

15. The surprizing thing is this.. I don't fear any animal..large or small

I'm not overly fond of insects, but I don't go out of my way to kill them :)

I even had wild pets when we lived in Panama.. I had a coatimundi named Pogo, a half-wild cat named Toby, a Marmoset named Teta, and a parrot named Pancake :)

and I'm still a sucker for injured/lost animals.. My friend and I nursed an owl back to health and gave him to a teacher who lived on a farm...He built an owl-house, and that owl took care of the barn mice for him:)

I've stopped traffic to rescue wet lost dogs, who TRASHED the inside of my car:rofl:

So I guess the ponytail experience did not sour me:)

[backscatter712]

5. Jesus.

This is fucking horrible.

The only faint silver lining in this is that she's being treated by the best doctors in the country specializing in these sorts of injuries.

But even a full face transplant won't put her back to the way she was.

I keep hearing about her eyes being gouged out, but hear varying accounts. Did she lose her eyes, or were they injured? If they're injured, are they fixable injuries, or is she permanently blinded?

[MiniMe]

10. I think the woman wanted privacy

So we may never hear exactly what the extent was. Prayers that she can recover from this.

[walter_map]

14. Varying accounts on Charla Nash

Re: backscatter712

"I keep hearing ..."

I've found the incident to be extremely disturbing on several
levels and have requested definite information.  

Eyes, nose, teeth, septum, palate, jaws, and hands may be
unrecoverable.  Victim was apparently eaten alive at leisure
for at least several minutes.  Autopsies to separated animal
head and body underway, presumably including digestive tract. 


Authorities have expressed surprise that a subject could
survive the quantity of destruction to the head.  Scalp
absent, damage to ears probable.  Damage to neck and throat
probable.  Multiple concussion probable.  Brain damage
probable.  Induced medical coma:  possibly indicated but
unconfirmed and undenied.    

No details have evolved on reports of trauma to "lower
extremities".  Possibility of genital mutilation, known
from other chimpanzee attacks:  unconfirmed and undenied.  

Possibility from evidence of bestial relationship with animal
by owner, motivating a "protective" killing attack: 
unconfirmed and undenied.

Successful civil suits against the animal owner:  probable. 
Other suits against local and state governments:  probable,
unlikely to be successful.  Stricter local and state laws: 
probable. 

Speculate further if you like, but I'm not going to.  I'm
going to take down a large glass, get some ice, open a nice
dry port, and find myself a distraction.  Fucking horrible, to
be sure, but we've seen our share of fucking horrible over the
last few years, now haven't we?

    

[globalvillage]

6. Oh, Good Lord

I can't even imagine the suffering of this poor woman. I hope they can do something for her.

[Berry Cool]

7. Makes perfect sense to me that they would bring her here. If there's any hope for her

it's at Cleveland Clinic.

I was a bit surprised to hear Nancy Skinner on the radio wondering aloud why the woman would have been taken there and not to Boston. I guess she doesn't remember the face transplant story.

[Gin]

8. I heard today on PBS the owner of the chimp lost her husband and only child in

a short period of time...then she then adopted the chimp...they bathed together...he combed her hair every night.....this story is sad and awful all around.

[RamboLiberal]

9. She had the chimp long before she lost her daughter and husband

She had the chimp Travis since he was a baby, and he was 14/15 when he was killed. Her daughter died in an auto accident in 2004. And her husband died a year before the daughter.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/peter_wedderburn/blog/2009/02/20/what_part_of_wild_do_they_not_understand