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The world's first face transplant recipient is using her new lips to take up smoking again
[cbsnews.com...]
I've been following this story a bit, and the last thing I read about it kinda creeped me out. It seems that the donor must still be alive. Their mental, physical and medical state aside, that's eerie.
( actually depends on what we were talking about a while ago in another what they felt / feel etc about it ..how ever I digress )
What this does bring up is ..how long before french hospitals are going to enforce the existing laws here against smoking by staff and patients in hospitals ..
Most everyone smokes in hospitals ..just about anywhere except in the operating theatres here ..certainly not just in the rooms set aside for them to prevent the effects upon others of passive smoking ..no one gives a damn ..and you get some really bad words from even little old ladies if you ask them not to smoke ..
Doctors smoke when you visit them or they visit you at home ..likewise health visitors , nurses etc ..
I wonder if it isn't something to do with the 100% french state owned tobacco company Seita ..not wanting to have to lay off any more workers ..
French home-doctor in rural places do smoke, drink (they love Porto)... Funny and caricatured
The BIG story of the face transplant was published by a famous English media (it seems that English people love HR stories) but personnaly, I think that the subject is just bullsh*t ("enc*lage de mouche" as we said in French).
The fact is that many doctors knew about this technique for many years and the face transplant is not revolutionnary. The reason it has never been done before was the lack of donor.
Then the English newspaper managed to get a picture before eveyone else and it made a big story of it (like the MillionDollarHomePage story). Now, it is the war of who is going to get the first picture, first interview, first book, etc... And periodicals are now paying huge amount of money everyweek to have a story about it just because the story sales.
The downside of this story for periodicals, there is no nudity... I am sure an *ss' transplant would sale more!
Most everyone smokes in hospitals ..just about anywhere except in the operating theatres here
I'm told that a local (Canadian) hospital recently removed ashtrays from some older operating rooms during renovations...
-b
Her visiting doctor smokes during home calls ..as did the guy before him ..of the 4 nurses that call in rotation to bring her daily medicines ..the 3 guys dont smoke ..the woman does ..we keep an ashtray in the house just for her ..when we asked her to not arrive smoking she exploded about "atteint a la liberty" etc .
Not the first time it's happened ..
If you live here you should know that like the speed limits ..everyone considers that the laws are made for the other guy ..
In emergency units all the waiting rooms have people, staff and patients smoking ..even with the notices everywhere that say not to..
The reason it has never been done before was the lack of donor.
That's not true. Here, the Cleveland Clinic (one of the top 10 in the US) has had the technology to do it for some time and (I beieve) twice has wanted to go ahead. The reason they did not and why many are frowning on the French operation is because it is a cosmetic one. Granted, the recipients they want to help are horribly disfigured, but this surgery has the same risk as any othe transplant. The recipiant's body has a 50% chance of rejecting the face, which could leave them even more disfigued or worse, dead.
Here is a link to an article about Cleveland Clinic's first try. Both their attempts failed because they did not find what they felt was a sutiable recipiant, one that was disfigured enough and had exhausted all other means to warrent the severe risks. You have to find a sutiable recipiant before you can even start looking for the donor.
[washingtonpost.com...]
I kind of get the impression that the frech doctors just kind of found someone who would say yes and went ahead with it, more for postarity (we did it first) sake than concern for the patient. But I don't know all the details of the woman's case so I could be wrong in my impression.
The downside of this story for periodicals, there is no nudity... I am sure an *ss' transplant would sale more!
BTW the french media haven't exactly been hiding the story under a pile of leaves at the bottom of an old well since they got hold of it either ..
2nd BTW regarding our smoking laws ..there is one says no smoking on tv ..watched Ardisson or Fogiel lately? ..or any live interviews with Dutronc or Delon ..
Coming back to the story ..it wasn't really cosmetic ..the woman had extreme difficulty eating and drinking as a result of the scar tissue she already had and major risks of infection ..so they had been considering her for this proceedure for a while but were waiting for a tissue match ..
There is likely to be a major increase in this kind of surgery in the coming years here due to the quite phenominal number of children injured here every year by "attack dogs" unmuzzled ( again inspite of the laws against the possession of some breeds or that others should be sterilised, attached or muzzled ) ..In some of the banlieue and in most public parks at the weekend the rotts' are as common as the hoodies ..
I wonder if it isn't something to do with the 100% french state owned tobacco company Seita ..not wanting to have to lay off any more workers ..
Seita is not 100% owned by the French state. It was privatize in the late 90’s.
Most everyone smokes in hospitals ..just about anywhere except in the operating theatres here ..certainly not just in the rooms set aside for them to prevent the effects upon others of passive smoking ..no one gives a damn ..and you get some really bad words from even little old ladies if you ask them not to smoke ..
This has not been my experience in French hospitals. Every time I’ve gone to a French hospital those that have been smoking did so either outside or in dedicated areas.
Her visiting doctor smokes during home calls ..as did the guy before him ..of the 4 nurses that call in rotation to bring her daily medicines ..the 3 guys dont smoke ..the woman does ..we keep an ashtray in the house just for her ..when we asked her to not arrive smoking she exploded about "atteint a la liberty" etc .
Again not my experience, whenever I’ve encountered a French doctor at home (yes people, doctors in France still make house calls!) they have never smoked.
IMHO, smokers in France do not have the blatant disrespect for others and the law that is being implied. Once upon time that might have been true but not in France of 2006.
It's 2006 ..I am not lying ..your experiences are not mine ..And as to the french gov'ts involvement in seita lire sans tes lunettes "bleu blanc rouge" [lexpansion.fr] amonst other things ..which insitutions own the actions of the company and who controls those insitutions .. (et sans faire tes cocoricos!) ..
When will the mentality of telling others how to think and what they saw and what they should say and keeping ones head in the sand cease to be a national trait?
In France we have a joke about our national bird where it stands and what it does ..still holds true apparently ..
Last year the workers at Seita staged a major demonstration to try to get the gov't to subsidise their jobs "charges" in order to save them ..Other countries TV ran the story ..so who are you trying to fool about here ..the rest of the world ..or yourself .."they" already know ..45,000 cars burned in riots here last year ..official figures ..makes me want to weep some folks think we are doing just fine ..
BTW apologies to "Mike" when you see this..mod as you will ;)..
But as someone who's kid will grow up here I just wish that some people would open their eyes and get out of denial or nothing will get better just worse ..
I am not lying
If you want to call what you did as lying so be it. I was merely pointing out your error of ‘fact’.
When will the mentality of telling others how to think and what they saw and what they should say and keeping ones head in the sand cease to be a national trait?
Where did I tell anyone how to think? Where did I tell anyone what they saw? Where did I tell anyone what to say. I did none of those I merely gave my opinion as you did. If you don’t like people giving their opinion you are in the wrong place. As for ‘national trait’ I’m much more American than French, so you just insulted a lot of people here!
Last year the workers at Seita staged a major demonstration to try to get the gov't to subsidise their jobs "charges" in order to save them ..Other countries TV ran the story ..so who are you trying to fool about here ..the rest of the world ..or yourself .."they" already know ..
I’m not trying to fool anyone I was just pointing out that Seita is not 100% owned by the French state as you said.
45,000 cars burned in riots here last year ..official figures ..makes me want to weep some folks think we are doing just fine ..
Where have I ever said that France is ‘doing just fine’? France has lots of problems as the riots showed. The problem I have with you is that you go out of your way, as you did here to bash France.
But as someone who's kid will grow up here I just wish that some people would open their eyes and get out of denial or nothing will get better just worse ..
You just can’t deal with someone that disagrees with you can you? You have to rationalize it as me having ‘denial’ or not opening my eyes. Look, I disagree with the way you see France and I can’t understand why someone who dislikes so much about France would live here for over 15 years.
<sighing> Oh well. Thread closed. </sighing>
