A British hospital is set to give the go-ahead for four British patients to undergo face transplants in what will prove a major landmark in surgery. The ethical committee of the Royal Free Hospital in north London is expected to announce on Wednesday that it will approve the first operations for a full-face transplant. The recipients have not yet been selected but several potential candidates have already been seen by doctors. The move marks the final hurdle for the team of plastic surgeons and specialists at the hospital who have spent the past 12 years investigating the possibility of face transplants. They have carried out studies that they say show a transplant is not only physically possible but would have huge psychological benefits for people left disfigured by accidents or burns. Simon Weston, a veteran who suffered terrible burns in the Falklands war, will accompany a team of doctors to the committee meeting this week to explain why he feels the medical community must allow face transplants in Britain. He was initially against the move but has looked at their work and come down in favour of it. The world’s first face transplant took place last […]