Transplant Hand Now Amputated

By Karen Michelmore

Surgeons yesterday removed the hand of the world's first hand-transplant patient, Clint Hallam, at a secret hospital location in London, Australian microsurgeon Earl Owen said.

Professor Owen, who was one of the leaders of the international transplant team that attached Mr Hallam's new hand in a revolutionary operation in 1998, said the limb was removed in a short operation at an undisclosed London hospital.

He said the hand was removed at the request of the New Zealander, who is wanted on fraud charges in Australia and New Zealand, after his body irreversibly rejected the organ because he failed to follow the correct treatment.

The amputation brings to an end an exasperating two-and-a-half years for doctors, who have been frustrated by Mr Hallam's disappearances, failure to take medication regularly and his paid media stunts.

Mr Hallam only visited doctors when he had a camera crew in tow to make a statement at the hospital, Professor Owen said.

He said Mr Hallam was now recovering under an assumed name at his own request and had signed an exclusive deal with a magazine.

Professor Owen added that none of the doctors involved in the transplant had been paid.

"None of the doctors in the last two-and-a-half years have been paid. This is not something that was done for money, and he never paid for it. He has managed to get all of his post-operative care paid for by the media."

In January 1999, three months after his operation, Mr Hallam "suddenly left the concerned care of his doctors and disappeared for over two months", Professor Owen said in a statement.

"He reappeared in London and returned to Australia but set up a pattern of repeated failure to stay under the regular care of team members.

"We know that he voluntarily went without drugs for weeks at a time over the following two years, and failed to follow the plan he willingly agreed to before the actual transplant was performed.

"This frustrated our attempts to treat him optimally, making it inevitable that irreversible rejection would intervene, necessitating an eventual amputation in the interests of his own health.

"Just before the amputation his feeling in the hand was very good, but lack of doing his exercise program hampered the full return of movement, then lack of treatment because of his wandering led to the latest neglected rejection."

The amputated hand will be studied to help gain knowledge for future transplants.

"The hand has already been given to a specialist pathologist to obtain as much information as we can to help the other six people who have got successful transplants, should they be going through rejection," the doctor said.

On a positive note, Mr Hallam's failure to comply with treatment had taught doctors a great deal in the past two years, he said.

The six hand transplants conducted since Mr Hallam's hand was attached included a double hand transplant that had had exceptional results. That patient now has " good feeling to both hands' fingertips, and secure pinch grips with thumb and fingers of both hands and a healthy handshake," Professor Owen said.

Copyright © The Age Company Ltd 2001.

This article posted February 17, 2001.