Human face transplant.

Documentary about a team of surgeons from Louisville, Kentucky, who are prepared to break, what is called here, 'the final taboo in transplant surgery' by transplanting the face of a dead person onto a living human being. John Barker tells what led him to consider this surgery and where research into its feasibility has led so far. We meet Sandeep Kaur, an Indian girl who suffered a harrowing accident when she was 9 years old which ripped off most of her face. Abraham Thomas operated on her in what is currently considered to be the world's first successful full face transplant. Surgeon Nadey Hakin talks about his 1989 pioneering transplant of the hand and arm of a corpse onto an amputee and describes why the surgery ultimately failed. Since then around 20 such transplants have taken place successfully. We meet Jackie Savarido, a young woman hit by a drunk driver in the late 90's who suffered severe burns all over her body and especially her face, who would be a potential candidate for the Louisville team. We also hear from Tim Hydler, a firefighter who lost his larynx and had the first successful larynx transplant. The programme includes occasional debate about the psychological and ethical implications of transplanting a dead person's face onto a living person, although this area is left largely unresolved.