"A former soldier cut off two of his gangrene-ridden toes with a pair of tin metal pliers without anesthetic in his living room after becoming frustrated at a six-week delay to being operated on by the National Health Service (NHS)."
[...] "He says he eventually developed gangrene and his doctor said his infected toes would have to be removed. Rather than wait six weeks for the operation, Dibbins took matters into his own hands.
He says the operation, performed without pain killers and in his living room while biting on a rolled up towel, took about an hour. His wife of 40 years was in the house but says she did not want to look.
“Knowing that it would take at least another six weeks to get me in front of a surgeon again, that’s when I bit the bullet and cut off the toes,” Dibbins told the North Devon Journal.
“I did it because it’s what had to be done. My doctor told me my toes were going to kill me."
https://www.rt.com/uk/364152-gangrene-frostbite-toes-cut/
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Sunday October 30 2016, @02:47AM
I'd cut through the joint, as at least that way it won't pressure-splinter the bone and wind up with more mess than before.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.