With regard to head transplantation, there had been little formal ethical discussion published in the literature and little dialogue among stakeholders ; the plans of Canavero were running well ahead of society's and the medical establishment's readiness or acceptance. There was no accepted protocol for conducting the procedure to justify the risk to the people involved, methods of obtaining informed consent were unclear, especially for the person whose body would be used; issues of desperation render the truly informed consent of a head donor questionable. With regard to societal costs, the body of a person willing to be an organ donor can save the lives of many people, and the supply of tissues and organs from people willing to be organ donors did not meet the medical need of recipients; the notion of an entire donor body going to one other person was difficult to justify at that time. Basic legal issues were also unclear with regard to whether only one or both of the people involved in a head transplantation would have any legal rights in the post-procedure person.