January 21, 2006

LIKE GIVING THE MICK A NEW LIVER:

Face Transplant Patient Smokes Again (MARILYNN MARCHIONE, 1/18/06, AP)

The world's first face transplant recipient is using her new lips to take up smoking again, which doctors fear could interfere with her healing and raise the risk of tissue rejection.

"It is a problem," Dr. Jean-Michel Dubernard, who led the team that performed the pioneering transplant in France on Nov. 27, acknowledged on Wednesday.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 21, 2006 4:53 PM
Comments

I suppose the headline may be taken as a kind of complement to persons of Irish descent. By combining a sterotypical slur with a derogatory epithet, it is implied that the Irish have sufficient balance and mental health not to be greviously harmed by mere words.

Compare and contrast this with the soft bigotry of lowered expectations which requires the utmost delicacy in speaking of other ethnicities.

Posted by: Lou Gots at January 21, 2006 5:48 PM

I thought it was referring to Mickey Mantle.

Posted by: Rob at January 21, 2006 6:01 PM

Good for her.

Posted by: Carter at January 21, 2006 6:10 PM

I've read that, if a facelift patient smokes while they're healing, the smoke can actually leave permanent stains along the suture lines. Supposedly this happened to some Hollywood actress recently.

Posted by: PapayaSF at January 21, 2006 6:10 PM

I thought the Mick referred to the rock star, not Irish people in general.

Posted by: erp at January 21, 2006 6:24 PM

Mick Jagger or Mickey Mantle . . . works either way.

Posted by: Mike Morley at January 21, 2006 6:36 PM

Jagger's still going though. Mantle was diagnosed with terminal cancer less than a year after he was bumped to the front of the transplant line.

Posted by: John at January 21, 2006 8:15 PM

I do not understand what the fuss is all about. The woman had a skin graft. so what?

Posted by: Robert Schwartz at January 22, 2006 11:29 AM

They shouldn't have.

Posted by: oj at January 22, 2006 11:42 AM

It was a free operation. What's the loss? They'll give her another one.

Posted by: Genecis at January 22, 2006 1:01 PM
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