Amputation Instructions By Text
By Christopher Nickson
December 03, 2008
A British doctor volunteering in DR Congo has performed an amputation, receiving instructions by text from a colleague in London.
The Guardian has reported that a British doctor volunteering with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in the Democratic Republic of Congo amputated the arm of an injured teen, receiving instructions by text message from a colleague in London.
The youth had been bitten by a hippo, and his left arm was ripped off and gangrenous. Vascular surgeon David Nott, who volunteers for MSF one month each year, had never performed the necessary operation, but a colleague at Charing Cross Hospital in London had.
"I texted him and he texted back step by step instructions on how to do it," Nott said.
"Even then I had to think long and hard about whether it was right to leave a young boy with only one arm in the middle of this fighting.”
"But in the end he would have died without it so I took a deep breath and followed the instructions to the letter.”
The operation, which was performed in October, was a success, the paper reports, and the patient made a complete recovery.