Man in hospital after attempting surgery on himself with a butter knife

[Liberal_in_LA]

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 the 1000 block of Columbus Avenue on Sunday evening, they saw the man lying naked outside on a lounge chair with what appeared to be the handle of a knife protruding from his stomach, Sgt. Tom Lorenz of the Glendale Police Department told the Glendale News-Press.

As police waited for paramedics to arrive, Lorenz said the man pulled out the knife and shoved a cigarette he was smoking inside the open wound.

The man, whose name was not released, was immediately placed on a psychiatric hold and taken to a hospital, Lorenz said. The man’s wife had reportedly notified police that her husband had become upset about the hernia and wanted to take it out.

“It is absolutely impossible for someone to fix their own hernia,” said Sam Carvajal, a surgeon at Glendale Adventist Medical Center.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/07/man-used-butter-knife-in-attempt-to-do-his-hernia-surgery-police-say.html

Speaking to the paper, surgeon Sam Carvajal said the DIY surgery had probably caused more harm than good.

He said: 'It is absolutely impossible for someone to fix their own hernia.'

Dr Carvajal said most hernia patients don't actually suffer that much pain, leaving him to conclude the patient was suffering, 'some amount of psychosis.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2019029/Man-attempts-DIY-hernia-surgery-using-butter-knife-lit-cigarette.html#ixzz1TEKG6bfb

[Kennah]

1. Need more info

Article doesn't say whether his pants were down and whether he was erect during the surgery.

[woo me with science]

2. Inspired by Washington, no doubt. nt

[Enrique]

3. this would make a good movie

I could see James Franco in the role.

[Warpy]

I always say I'd rather remove my own gallbadder with a grapefruit spoon

than go back to nursing, but at least that's got a serrated edge.

By his choice of scalpel, a dull butter knife, yeah, I'd say a hernia is the least of his problems.

[JohnnyLib2]

4. God forbid that he becomes a prototype!

:scared:

[CountAllVotes]

5. no heath insurance?

Too young for Medicare. Ain't America great!?

:kick:

[TwilightGardener]

6. "Some amount of psychosis"... Yes, shoving a lit cigarette into your

DIY butter-knife surgical wound might mean you're just a little cuckoo for cocoa puffs.

[hunter]

7. I cut my own hair.

I also cut a nasty thing off my face once, which I was certain was the same sort of nasty thing my doctor cuts off of my arms. As a white kid growing up in the days before sunscreen I spent too much time on Southern California beaches.

Maybe I could repair my own hernia, like maybe I might saw off my arm if I was alone and trapped in the rocks alone in the desert. But really I'd prefer not to.

It's the "prefer not to" that is the measure of my own sanity.

[FLPanhandle]

8. The home vasectomy kit is a scam too.

and the cigarette sterilization technique is well out of date.

[chrisa]

9. Oh my gosh. I can't even begin to imagine how painful that must have been.

[MattBaggins]

10. Don't tell Oprah and her quack "Dr." Oz

They'll set up a whole week long special to prop him up as some kind of faith healing miracle worker.