Splicing was the reason apparition had been banned in the first place. You could lose an ear or a nose if the spell went wrong. When St Mungo's Hospital was still open, this was no problem. Just reattach the missing body part. However, this became impossible as the field of medicine regressed, and wizards started having fatal accidents from unsuccessful apparitions. Astor shuddered at the thought of magically vanishing only to reappear with an arm or leg missing, or worse, appear with a torso missing, or be decapitated.