World's first head transplant may happen soon

A strange surgeon states that the ground-breaking operation of transplanting the head of a terminally ill man onto a recently deceased donor is near in the future.

To criticise the work of Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero, many medical experts have weighed. 

Bioethicist Paul Root Wolpe, from Emory University in the US, is among them, who stated that Canavero’s so-called HEAVEN procedure “Walks a fine line between medical care and murder”, according to Daily Star.

The risky procedure has been planned to be performed on Russian computer scientist Valery Spiridonov, who suffers from a rare muscle-wasting disease.

Two major changes occurred in Spiridonov’s life, as legal challenges in the US delayed the surgery.

Podcaster Joe Scott explains: "While Valery was waiting, something amazing happened. First of all his body stabilised — his disease stopped progressing. It wasn't getting any worse and he kind of learned to live with it. Second of all, the dude got married. He met a woman named Anastasya Panfilova, they fell in love and got married."

Canavero has continued with his research, despite the setback. He carried out his first “successful” head transplant in 2017 after relocating to China and working with Chinese surgeon Dr Xiaoping Ren.