Head transplant ops ‘will work’... but the side effects could be the worst form of insanity ever experienced by a human

Valery Spiridonov, 30, suffers from Werdnig-Hoffmann disease, a rare form of spinal muscular atrophy. / Rex Features

 By SARAH BARNS

   After surgery, Valery will be kept in a medically-induced coma for three to four weeks while doctors stimulate his spinal cord nerves to reconnect and start functioning.
   But surgeons believe the opinion-dividing procedure could cause Valery to go insane or die.
"I would not wish this on anyone," said Dr Hunt Batjer, president elect of the American Association for Neurological Surgeons.
   "I would not allow anyone to do it to me as there are a lot of things worse than death."
   The experimental transplant, due to be carried out in 2017 by Italian surgeon Dr Sergio Canavero, is likely to take 36-hours and will involve over 150 doctors and nurses...Continue reading...