Investigator Chase VanderWolk alerts us to what he believe is the first inarguable case of a man’s brain overruling his appendage:
“A Preliminary Report of Penile Transplantation,” Weilie Hu, CorrJun Lua, Lichao Zhanga, Wen Wua, Haibo Niea, Yunsong Zhua, Zhixiong Denga, Yongbing Zhaoa et al., European Urology, vol. 50, no. 5, November 2006, pp. 851-3. The authors report that:
“A 44-year-old male recipient with traumatic penile defect that occurred 8 mo earlier was matched with a 22-year-old, male, brain-dead donor…. At day 14 postoperatively because of a severe psychological problem of the recipient and his wife, the transplanted penis was cut off. Pathologic examination showed no rejection.”