Doctor Uses $300 Power Drill To Save Man's Life

[matcom]

<snip>

KETCHUM -- You can talk all you want about multimillion-dollar MRIs and other high-tech hospital equipment.

But, in the end, it was a doctor and a $300 drill he borrowed from the maintenance shop that saved the life of Ben King on a snowy night in December.

King returned to St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center last week to thank Dr. Keith Sivertson and others who were involved in saving his life during a ceremony arranged by Boise Life Flight paramedic Joe Levitch.

"I just want to let everyone know that I feel fantastic," King said to the applause of about 75 people assembled in the hospital lobby.

<snip>

Sivertson grabbed a Makita drill and a couple drill bits from the hospital's maintenance shop. Then he chased after the ambulance on the slick highway, pulling into the LDS Church parking lot in Shoshone 20 minutes after the ambulance did.

As Melissa King watched, he drilled a tiny hole in the lower left part of Ben King's skull.

"To an outsider it had to be pretty clear we had no idea what we were doing," Sivertson said. "But I was focused. I'd done something similar before so I had a feel or it."


http://www.magicvalley.com/news/localstate/index.asp?StoryID=9602

[displacedtexan]

1. Too weird for color TV, matcom!

Now I'll have nightmares about this.