Man Pinned Down by Tree Amputates His Own Leg

Man Pinned Down by Tree Amputates His Own Leg

www.theaustralian.news.com.au

A MAN partially sawed off his own leg with a pocket knife after he was pinned under a tree in California.
Al Hill, 66, was clearing trees in rural California when a large tree fell on him, the Associated Press quoted the local Auburn Journal newspaper as saying.

Mr Hill spent up to 10 hours trapped in the remote area before trying to saw off his left leg to escape

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this is nearly impossible to believe, the fact that this man could amputate his own Leg without going into shock is totally amazing to me, how many people could do the same in that situation?

www.theaustralian.news.com.au
(visit the link for the full news article)

If he had tried to cut it off right away I wouldn't be too surprised... some people seem to have superhuman powers with enough adrenaline pumping through their veins.

But after ten hours?! With any luck his pain receptors had already been overloaded so the pain from trying to cut through the bone was lessened.

When I read something like this, I have to wonder why Bill O'Reilly and Greta van Susteran spend so much air time talking about that inconsequential floozy PH. (Don't start in on Fox News. They all do it.)

I've been through a lot in my time, but I just can't imagine amputating, even partially, a limb, but probably neither could Al Hill day before yesterday.

[edit on 2007/6/7 by GradyPhilpott]

Amazing control and determination to survive. Here are a couple of similar cases. And it would take a lot to top the soldier in the New Guinea jungle in WW2, who removed his own infected appendix with a standard-issue spoon which he'd ground to razor sharpness and sterlized over a flame. I remember reading about it years ago, but a swift search a few moments ago failed to find it.

An Australian coal miner amputated his own arm with a knife after becoming pinned under a tractor, police say.

The 44-year-old man was trapped at least two miles (three kilometres) below ground in a mine near Lake Macquarie, just south of the city of Newcastle on Australia's east coast.

..... the man cut through his arm below the elbow rather than wait for rescuers to arrive.

Similar case

The case bears eerie similarities to that of an American climber, who was forced to amputate his own arm with a penknife and hike several miles for help in May.

He had been trapped by a boulder for five days in a remote part of the western state of Utah.

news.bbc.co.uk...

Originally posted by Dock6
And it would take a lot to top the soldier in the New Guinea jungle in WW2, who removed his own infected appendix with a standard-issue spoon which he'd ground to razor sharpness and sterlized over a flame.

I'm having hard time believing that. We're talking major thoracic surgery here. Was he an medical doctor by any chance?

I'm reminded of the commercial in which the man is on the phone with his surgeon holding a butter knife in his hand, while the surgeon tells him to make an incision between his ribs and the guy asks: "Shouldn't you be doing this?"

[edit on 2007/6/7 by GradyPhilpott]

Man! I hate when that happens. I remember once I had a very similar experience. After almost 5 hours of agonizing pain and unbelievable loneliness I had to take immediate action. To make matters even worse I had absolutely no tools whatsoever. This is hard to admit, but I had to use my teeth. Yes, I was in my car driving from New Jersey to South Carolina. I hit my hand on the steering wheel and gave myself a hangnail. After several hours I had to (gulp) chew off the hanging piece of fingernail.

Originally posted by apc
If he had tried to cut it off right away I wouldn't be too surprised...

I'm more suprised that he only waited 10 hours. Seriously, give it a day. You haven't even let a full 24 hour cycle go by, as in people going to work, maybe taking a nightly walk after work or walking the dog in the morning. Of course, that's easy to say from my comfy chair with both my legs.

What really sucks is that he only got part way through before someone found him. What must he have been thinking at that point? "Hmm, maybe I should have tried yelling for help first. Oh well, live and learn."