Saturday, July 26, 2008
impaled! | 7:47 PM
I hope you do not lose your appetite after reading this.
July 19, 2008
Man speared by rod lives to tell the tale
MEDICAL MIRACLE: A video showing Mr Dutta undergoing surgery in New Delhi on Thursday after an iron road weighing 6kg pierced his liver, stomach, spleen, left lung and diaphragm, but missed his heart. -- PHOTO: AFPNEW DELHI - AN INDIAN man has survived an operation to remove a 1.5m- long iron bar that went right through his chest, reports said yesterday, calling it a medical miracle.
The rod was lying on a construction site when the taxi that Mr Supratim Dutta was travelling in smashed into it on Saturday.
The bar pierced through the car's bonnet and dashboard before hitting the 23-year-old, who was in the front passenger seat, The Times of India reported. It measured 10cm by 10cm.
Mr Dutta remained conscious and called family members and friends from his mobile phone while he waited at the scene for an hour before being taken to hospital, the newspaper reported.
'I was shocked to see him. He was on the stretcher holding the iron at an angle.
'Groaning in pain, he kept asking people to move aside so that the angle (of the rod) wasn't disturbed,' Dr Tej Prakash, one of the first doctors to see Mr Dutta, was quoted by the paper as saying.
Indian media described the three-hour-long surgery on Thursday as a miracle. The iron bar, which weighed 6kg, had pierced Mr Dutta's liver, stomach, spleen and left lung.
It also perforated the IT specialist's diaphragm in two places and broke a rib, but missed his heart.
'In my 35-year-long career, this is the first time that I have seen a case like this,' the newspaper quoted Dr M.C. Misra as saying.
Three of Mr Dutta's ribs had to be cut to remove the rod from his body.
Doctors said he was in stable condition, but not out of danger yet because of the risk of post-surgery infection.
Mr Dutta's father Sukumar told the paper his son's strength of character saved him, though he was unsure how long it would take before his son made a full recovery.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
