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posted by martyb on Saturday October 29 2016, @09:21PM   Printer-friendly
from the VERY-stiff-upper-lip dept.

"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/


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  • (Score: 2) by sjames on Sunday October 30 2016, @09:45AM

    by sjames (2882) on Sunday October 30 2016, @09:45AM (#420466) Journal

    Even the best of them presents an illogical story.

    We seem to have:

    1. Frostbite on toes
    2. In hospital to get right leg amputated below the knee.
    3. Surgery cancelled due to another patient having complications
    4. Given leave to care for himself until toes get bad
    5. Six months later, Toes get bad, told it's 6 weeks till a surgery
    6. decides to keep leg?, self-amputate toes

    So was his leg to be amputated for funsies? Apparently so if his foot healed up after removing his toes.

    Did he use nail clippers or tin snips? They can't seem to agree.

    He waited 6 months of his own accord, why so burned up over a few more weeks when a doctor says it's OK?

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  • (Score: 2) by RamiK on Sunday October 30 2016, @05:05PM

    by RamiK (1813) on Sunday October 30 2016, @05:05PM (#420557)

    So was his leg to be amputated for funsies? Apparently so if his foot healed up after removing his toes.

    Ask his doctors. Maybe he had a second opinion. Maybe some other measure was effective. But diabetes has lots of "scheduled for amputation unless a patient makes life-style change in 10 month" procedures. I remember hearing very few patients diet down their weight as instructed and end up requiring the operation.

    Did he use nail clippers or tin snips? They can't seem to agree.

    Depends on where they did the photo-shoot and who wrote the story. If he was interviewed at his home then he probably showed what he used in the picture and then the journalists just wrote whatever they thought it was. If he traveled to a studio, they probably picked up something off the shelf and shot that.

    He waited 6 months of his own accord, why so burned up over a few more weeks when a doctor says it's OK?

    I'm guessing the doctor's tone and a sense of emergency rubbed him the wrong way? Don't know. Wasn't there.

    Overall, I wouldn't get too hung up on second and third source details. There's a reason the courts call it hearsay and dismiss it.

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    compiling...