Posted on 03/28/2014 10:10:20 PM PDT by Slings and Arrows
A man cut his own hand off with a homemade guillotine after enduring years of excruciating nerve pain.
Mark Goddard built the contraption using an axe, some springs and an old gate post. The 44-year-old claimed he resorted to such drastic action because hospital staff had refused to treat the pains he suffered for over 16 years following a motorcycle crash.
I should not have to go to such extremes to get my pain stopped. There was an alternative and that was having it done properly in hospital, he explained.
Unfortunately for the man from Newton Abbot in Devon, the homemade device only partially severed his wrist and he had to finish off the job with a knife.
He then threw the hand onto a bonfire in his garden so that surgeons could not sew it back on.
There should never have been any need for me to do this. It would have spared so much distress all round but it was the only way. At least it will give me and my family our lives back, he added.
Mr Goddards pains still continue and he has threatened the NHS with a deadline for treatment otherwise he will chop his arm off at the elbow.
After being rushed to hospital, it was estimated that the former mechanic lost two pints of blood.
Mr Goddard was anxious to stress that he had undergone several psychiatric examinations since his difficulties started and had always been given a clean bill of health.
(Excerpt) Read more at metro.co.uk ...
P.S. Pix of arm and guillotine at link - you’ve been warned.
I feel sorry for this victim of socialized medicine. Unfortunately for him, he is likely unaware of the existance of “phantom” pain seemingly felt in no longer existing limbs.
Well that's a relief. He's officially not nuts for chopping off his own hand with a homemade guillotine.
I think they should play chicken with the guy and see what he threatens to do after cutting off his arm.
Could be a real life reenactment of the Monty Python “Tis but a flesh wound” scene.
Terrible. As a fellow human being, I feel great sympathy for him. I have known pain from tendonitis in the ankles and from arthritis, but nothing in the realm of what he has suffered. I would not be pleasant to be around if I hurt as he described.
If he had a verifiable online fund toward getting treatment in America, I would consider giving, and I usually do not give to charity.
Not anymore.
Probably... though I kinda feel for the guy; this came about because nothing could [would?] be done about his pain.
Joking aside, at this point I think he has much bigger problems.
Did he have a band-aide handy?
He's as normal as that Abby guy.
Something could have been done if in fact they had taken some time to actually find out his ailment.
Maybe he should chop off both his arms to make sure his design is good.
After that his head would be the ultimate test!
they could have given him non-drug, laser therapy for the pain. still could. it works for this kind of pain.
Well, being in pain for years under socialized medicine can make anyone go crazy.
"Come back here! I'll bite your legs off!"
> Did he have a band-aide handy?
He didn’t even have a band-saw.
“Throw ya hands in the air, and catch them like ya just don’t care!...”
Dr. G would have been ashamed of that implementation.
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