Saturday, April 22, 2006

OW.

PORTLAND, Ore. - An Oregon man who went to a hospital complaining of a headache was found to have 12 nails embedded in his skull from a suicide attempt with a nail gun, doctors say.
Surgeons removed the nails with needle-nosed pliers and a drill, and the man survived with no serious lasting effects, according to a report on the medical oddity in the current issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery.
The unidentified 33-year-old man was suicidal and high on methamphetamine last year when he fired the nails - up to 2 inches in length - into his head one by one.
The nails were not visible when doctors first examined the man in the emergency room of an unidentified Oregon hospital a day later. Doctors were surprised when X-rays revealed six nails clustered between his right eye and ear, two below his right ear and four on the left side of his head.
The study did not say how long the nails were, and a hospital spokeswoman refused to release that information. A photo published in the study suggests the nails range from 1 1/2 to 2 inches long.
No one before is known to have survived after intentionally firing so many foreign objects into the head, according to the report, written by Dr. G. Alexander West, the neurosurgeon who oversaw the treatment of the patient.
The man at first told doctors he had had a nail gun accident, but later admitted it was a suicide attempt.
The nails came close to major blood vessels and the brain stem but did not pierce them. The patient was in remarkably good condition when he was transferred to Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, where the nails were removed.
The patient was later transferred to psychiatric care and stayed under court order for nearly a month before leaving against doctors' orders.

4 comments:

yellowdoggranny said...

he is very stupid ..or very nuts...or both...damed determined what ever he is...gave me a headache just reading about it.

Nancy said...

Working in a hospital you see some strange things once in a while, but this was the strangest I have ever heard.

Wow. Karma was on his side.

Teressa said...

All I can say is, ouch! Hope you are doing well and things are going OK. Take care and God bless.

Linda said...

I am feeling cynical tonite.Let's see how long it takes for him to try the same trick again after all that money was spent on him. That's my logical side. My sympathetic side just says it must have been a miracle that pulled him thru it...