Chimp Victim Leaves Hospital After 15 Months

Charla Nash, who was mauled and blinded by a friend’s chimpanzee in February 2009, left the Cleveland Clinic yesterday. She “has made great progress in her recovery,” the hospital said in a statement. Nash will continue rehabilitation at a Boston-area assisted-living center and hopes to undergo more reconstructive surgery, the AP reports. In January, the Cleveland Clinic told Nash’s family it could not perform a face and hand transplant.

The hand transplant in particular would be difficult because the hands must come from the same donor and be transplanted simultaneously, the Stamford Advocate reports, but a spokesperson was vague when asked whether Nash is looking to have the surgery elsewhere: “Charla has many options in front of her and all are in play.” Her family has sued the chimp’s owner for $50 million, but she is attempting to limit her liability by calling the attack work-related.
(More Charla Nash chimp stories.)