Man tries surgery on own hernia using butter knife
GLENDALE — A 63-year-old Glendale man was in stable condition Monday after he apparently attempted surgery on himself with a six-inch butter knife in an attempt to remove a protruding hernia from his stomach, police said.
The man, whose name wasn’t released, was taken just after 7:32 p.m. Sunday to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, where he was treated for his injury, according to Glendale police.
When police arrived at the man’s home on the 1000 block of Columbus Avenue, they saw the naked man lying outside on a lounge chair with what appeared to be the handle of a knife protruding from his stomach, Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.
As police waited for paramedics to arrive, Lorenz said the man pulled out the knife and shoved a cigarette he was smoking inside the open wound.
The man was immediately placed on a psychiatric hold and taken to the hospital, Lorenz said.
The man’s wife had reportedly notified police that her husband had become upset about the hernia and wanted to take it out.
“Out of frustration, he tried to cut it out,” Lorenz said.
In attempting to remove his own hernia, said Sam Carvajal, a surgeon at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, he likely caused more harm than good.
“It is absolutely impossible for someone to fix their own hernia,” Carvajal said.
And most hernia patients don’t suffer severe enough pain that would cause them to attempt surgery on themselves, he added.
“Obviously, there is some amount of psychosis going on,” Carvajal said.
Repairing a hernia is a relatively easy surgery that lasts about 20 to 30 minutes, he said.
http://www.glendalenewspress.com/news/tn-gnp-0726-knife,0,5861184.story
Comments
I disagree. It's not that hard. He failed because he used a butter knife instead of a spork.
I also disagree. I am sure I read in The Lancet of a doctor (note - not a surgeon) who was on Antartica who repaired his own hernia. Cant remember his nationality and I dont have the online subscruption. However, he was given instruction on how to do it over a radio. The only benefit his medical training really gave him was he knew how to draw a syringe, he had a good idea on anatomy and he trusted the guy that was instructing him. I am pretty sure a lot of people have knowledge on anatomy - sports people, slaughtermen etc and you would have to be a tard not to be able to draw a syringe.
Their are numerous documented cases of people performing an appendectomy on themselves. While an appendix that needs to come out causes a great deal of pain and will give you blood poisoning if the fucker rupture, I would expect hernia sugery would be a walk in the park in compaison. You would have to have physical strength to pull the stitches whilst fucking around with your muscles in the lower abdomen, I bet you would be in a much better frame of mind than if you were cutting a swollen infected mass from your body.