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A bovine nose job that didn't work

An Indian woman has won token compensation from a British health authority for inserting a cartilage taken from a cow into her nose.

The woman who has not been named challenged the Sunderland Health Authority on the ground that the operation offended her religion. Worse, it did not do the job for the nose.

The cartilage was inserted into the nose seven years ago. After battling the health authority all these years all she has been given is $6,000 in compensation. "We have come to an agreement without accepting any liability in the case," a spokesman for the Sunderland Health Authority told rediff.com Friday.

The cartilage taken from a cow was inserted into the nose without the woman's knowledge. She has said that she would not have consented to that operation if she had been told what the health authority was doing.

That operation was watched by a group of medical trainees. That too was without her prior consent.

The woman who is now 34 said in a statement after the settlement: "I am not religious but as a Hindu the cow is sacred, and you are not supposed to do anything that will be seen to be sacrilegious to the animal. Inserting a part of a cow in your body would certainly be seen as that. It would be completely frowned upon."

The woman went for treatment to Sunderland General Hospital in the Tyne & Wear region of north England for a correction to a lump on the bridge of her nose. Leo Strassen, a consultant surgeon at the hospital, carried out the rhinoplasty.

She was never told even after the operation that cow cartilage had been used. She discovered that only when she inspected her own medical records later.

"I felt like some sort of experiment in a Nazi concentration camp," she said in her statement. "I went to the doctors because I had a problem with my nose. The rhinoplasty was to reduce the lump and straighten my nose. There was never any mention of implants from my own body and certainly no mention of bovine implants. I trusted this man implicitly, but he just used me for an experiment. I was horrified."

She said that her condition had in fact worsened after the rhinoplasty. She was in great pain and had trouble breathing. She sought legal help and that is how she came to inspect her records.

She now plans to go in for more surgery and faces a bill of almost $20,000.

"I have suffered almost seven years of pain, stress and depression because of this and that won't end until the cartilage has been taken out," she said. "I've been told that another operation may cause my nose to collapse - but it is a chance I must take."

The City Hospital of Sunderland has offered sympathy but neither full compensation nor any acceptance of responsibility. The spokesman for the health authority told rediff.com: "We are pleased that we have been able to reach a settlement with the lady. It has taken a number of years and that is regrettable. This seems to be a fairly unique case and the surgeon's professional ability was not in question."

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