Donated Arm Is Attached to Amputee

In a surgical first, an international team of doctors sewed a donor’s hand and arm on New Zealand businessman Clint Hallam, 48, whose own arm was amputated 14 years ago, a French hospital announced. The extremely delicate operation attaching the hand and arm at the elbow took 13 1/2 hours, hospital officials said. The surgical breakthrough “gives hope to millions of victims of workplace and domestic accidents, survivors of war or land mines and individuals born with hereditary deformities,” said Dr. Jean-Michel Dubernard, who led the team. Doctors said the technical skills required to carry out the procedure have been in place for years, but new drugs to help avert the body’s rejection of the graft have only recently become available.