Kansas cops confiscate formaldehyde-preserved foot from man's front porch

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,163730,00.html

A Kansas man has put his best foot forward — in a bucket of formaldehyde on the front porch. Ezekiel Rubottom, 21, of Lawrence, had to have his clubbed left foot amputated three weeks ago after a lifetime of medical problems. After the operation, he took it home.

"I'm not sick or, like, a danger," he told the Lawrence Journal-World. "I just wanted my foot ... I just figured I'd do with it whatever I pleased."

Rubottom's friends at the house where he's staying don't mind the body part in a bucket, but after a local kid told his parents about it Saturday, the cops came by and confiscated it.

On Monday, Rubottom went with police down to Lawrence Memorial Hospital (search), where he proved to them that the foot was his. Hospital official Karen Shumate said people often keep leftover body parts. "They've had women that want their uterus. People take tonsils. They take appendixes," she told the newspaper. "I think it's unusual that someone would want a foot, but it's within their rights because it's theirs." Now the foot is back on the front porch, where it floats in the bucket along with a porcelain horse and a can of Hamm's beer (search), forming what Rubottom calls "a collage of myself." Two toes have been snipped off as possible gifts to friends.

[Dave Reynolds]

1. Working in the field of pathology,

I have seen a few requests for returned parts.

Most hospitals should not be giving out quantities of formaldehyde as it is a carcinogen.

One case I remember is a man who wished to have his amputated leg, as when he died he wished to be buried with all of his appendages. He got it taped up in a plastic bag with instructions to freeze it.

[Ariana Celeste]

2. That is so cool.

If I ever have a body part removed, I'll keep it in a jar next to my DVD's. If it's an organ, I'll probably name it. Then whenever a solicitor knocks on my door, I'll invite them in and introduce them to my newly removed friend.

[TheDebbieDee]

3. LOL !

[MrScorpio]

4. Hamm's Beer?!?

That's sick

[Telly Savalas]

5. Reading that makes me nostalgic for Lawrence.

That is one delightfully weird little town.

[hickman1937]

6. Thank you for this.

Two toes have been snipped off as possible gifts to friends.
First time I've laughed out loud today.