Man attempts surgery on self with mixed results, police say
July 26, 2011
Glendale, CA
A 63-year-old Glendale man was in stable condition after he attempted surgery on himself with a six-inch butter knife to remove a protruding hernia from his stomach, police said Tuesday.
When police arrived at the man’s home on Sunday evening, they saw him lying naked outside on a lounge chair with what appeared to be the handle of a knife protruding from his stomach.
As police waited for paramedics to arrive, police said the man pulled the knife out and pushed a cigarette he was smoking inside the open wound, in an apparent attempt to cauterize the wound to prevent infection.
The man was placed on a psychiatric hold and taken to a hospital. His wife had notified police that her husband had become upset about the hernia and wanted it removed. Police had suggested the use of a hand grenade.
“It is absolutely impossible for someone to fix their own hernia,” said Sam Carvajal, a surgeon at Glendale Adventist Medical Center.
Especially not with a butter knife which does not even have a serrated edge. A real scalpel, preferably sterilized, would be needed and some clamps to staunch the blood flow during surgery.
There was no immediate information on the disposition of the butter knife.
