Second Hand

Matthew Scott, who received the first hand transplant in the United States, moved a finger on his new hand on Tuesday, and doctors said there are no signs of rejection or infection. “His hand looks good,” said Dr. Warren Breidenbach, lead surgeon of the team that transplanted a donor hand to Scott’s left wrist on Monday in Louisville, Ky. But the doctor cautioned that any number of complications, including rejection, still could arise. Scott, 37, pictured earlier this month with his left-hand prosthesis, lost his dominant hand in an explosion of an M-80, a powerful and illegal firecracker, on Dec. 23, 1985. “This is a chance for me … to get something back that is alive, that hopefully will be able to feel,” he said.