US EditionWoman Receives First Face Transplant from Euthanized Donor
The transplant restored vital functions for Carmen, who suffered severe facial necrosis, with about 100 specialists involved in the world's first euthanasia-donor face transplant.
- In a Monday statement, Vall d'Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona said it performed a pioneering facial transplant where the donor, who underwent Spain's assisted dying procedure last autumn, donated her face. The hospital said the operation took place during the autumn of 2025.
- The recipient, Carme, had facial tissue necrosis that impaired speech, eating and sight, and compatibility required matching sex, blood group and head size plus multidisciplinary assessment teams’ evaluations.
- The complex operation, lasting between 15 and 24 hours, involved a surgical team of about 100 professionals who performed a type I partial face transplant using digital three-dimensional facial models, customised surgical guides, protective silicone masks and cutting guides.
- After the operation, doctors noted Carme is healing and beginning to look more like herself, while Elisabeth Navas praised the donor's final generous wish that gave a stranger a second chance.
- Spain's long transplant record shows that with 49.4 million people, it leads globally; Vall d'Hebron University Hospital pioneered full face transplants in 2010, while 426 assisted-dying cases in 2024 raise ethical debate.
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70 Articles
World Premier in Spain: doctors performed a complete transplant on the face of a woman who chose euthanization. Benefits were a person whose face was seriously affected by a bacteria. The operation was one of the greatest complexity.
Woman is Euthanized and Her Face Transplanted
Euthanasia conjoined with organ harvesting just took a particularly disturbing turn in Spain, where a woman was euthanized and then had part of her face transplanted. From the Catalan News story: Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona has performed the world’s first face transplant with a donor who passed away from euthanasia. Around 100 medical professionals took part in the partial face transplant, a highly complex operation using ne…
Hospital Val d'Ebron in Barcelona performed facial transplant surgery, the first time a woman in the world was a donor who agreed to sacrifice her face in advance of assisted retirement.
A woman has had a face transplant from a dead person at a hospital in Barcelona.
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