The World's First Underwater Amputation - The Franklin River Disaster

Comments · 1.1K

• JO

  @JoseGonzalas · 1 month ago

  Doc did that emergency surgery by feel in under 2 minutes, and chest deep in rapids. That is some truly incredible craftsmanship and heroism.

  1.3K

• PA

  @papapudding · 1 month ago

  Imagine being stuck like that for 16 hours and your doctor slips and breaks his arm right in front of you. Life is absurd

  1.7K

• AR

  @Arzaker · 1 month ago

  &quot;The wire snaps&quot;<br><br>The cosmos REALLY wanted this guy dead

  193

• AL

  @alarmclock2p43 · 1 month ago

  As screwed up as it is performing a amputation in the water is pretty awesome as a trauma surgeon

  440

• IM

  @ImARealHumanPerson · 1 month ago

  &quot;In under 2 minutes&quot; is wild. It&apos;s 1-3 hours in a hospital. I know they had to be quick, but I wasn&apos;t expecting it to be that fast.

  709

• NI

  @Nillowo · 1 month ago

  The speed at which the surgery took place, for some reason, reminded me of that surgery back in the day with a 300% mortality rate, where the doctor was notoriously fast, however during the leg amputation, he cut off his assistants finger, the assistant and patient later died of gangrene, and a spectator died of shock. <br><br>How far we’ve come

  219

• AL

  @alexpatyababa5221 · 1 month ago

  this rescue team FIRST CLASS! Incredible bravery all around!

  246

• LA

  @LancasterResponding · 1 month ago

  For everyone saying a jackhammer would work we actually ran into this problem several years ago in my county. Kid fell into a hole in a tectonic cave and was stuck from the hips down. The idea of using a jackhammer or air hammer was thought of but the problem was threefold. 1) The inaccessibility of the location to bring a jackhammer to the location, basically the same problem was encountered with the ability to supply air to a pneumatic air hammer. 2) The possibility that whoever was using the equipment losing control and injuring/killing the patient. 3) The likelihood that using the equipment would cause a displacement of the surrounding rocks and injuring/killing everyone involved. They ended up chipping some of the rock away slowly with hand tools, lubing the kid up with cooking oil and hoisting him out vertically. It was an extremely difficult operation occurring a mile from the nearest road, at night, in the cold and driving snow. Took dozens of rescuers from multiple departments from three counties and two different states over 7 hours from the 911 call till all units went available. The kid was uninjured except for some cuts and bruises.

  34

• JA

  @jackdowse1246 · 1 month ago

  2mins… 2mins to perform that entire procedure is absolutely astounding

  128

• IL

  @illumiNOTme326 · 1 month ago

  For anyone wondering <br><br>&quot;When a compressed or trapped limb is freed, a dangerous condition called crush syndrome (or reperfusion injury) can occur. Restricted blood flow causes muscle breakdown and traps toxic metabolic byproducts—such as potassium, myoglobin, and lactic acid—in the tissue. Releasing the pressure flushes these toxins into the general circulation, which can cause sudden cardiac arrest, severe shock, and kidney failure.&quot;

  101

• GO

  @goldseven6059 · 1 month ago

  Being limbless is better than being dead.

  341

• EV

  @EverstarMaris · 1 month ago

  A couple things wrong, I am from Tasmania. 1. The first doctor broke both wrists. He slipped and used his hands to stop himself, breaking both of them. 2. His leg was caught up in a horizonal position, not facing down. It was behind him, sucked inbetween 2 rocks that were vaccuming the leg with the force of the water. These rivers push waterfalls and dams, they are going very fast. Think a ballerina with 1 leg behind them. 3. It takes hours to fly into these locations (fun fact) like 4-6hrs one way. 4. He had 1 friend translating everything that the doctors were saying because he didn’t speak english. The friend never told him amputation, he just said &quot;your leg must come out now.&quot;

  195