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The text message that saved a life
Surgeon in DR Congo amputates boy's arms using instructions from colleague in London.
- By Mike Pflanz , The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2008
- Published: 23:16 December 3, 2008
Nairobi: A British surgeon working in the Democratic Republic of Congo saved a teenage boy's life by performing an amputation after receiving instructions by text message from a colleague in London.
The 16-year-old boy, known as J, had already had half of his left arm removed after it was badly injured in an explosion during a rebel advance through his village. But what was left had turned dangerous and he was dying when he was admitted to the warzone ward where David Nott, a vascular surgeon from Charing Cross and Chelsea and Westminster hospital, was working for Medecins Sans Frontieres. "His only hope of survival was to have an operation called a forequarter amputation which involves removing the whole of the shoulder and scapula which, in the best of hands, carries a huge risk," Nott said.
"I had never done this operation before but I knew a colleague in London who had so I texted him. He sent me two very long text messages back explaining how to do the operation step by step. I followed the instructions step by step and the boy had a very successful forequarter amputation." J has now completely recovered.
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