Médecins Sans Frontières surgeon Dr. David Nott recently performed a life-saving amputation of a young Congonese boy’s gangrenous left arm after receiving step-by-step text messaging instructions from a colleague. The young boy was spear fishing when he had most of his left arm ripped off by a hippopotamus, a herbivore. A forequarter amputation is no small operation, even in a tertiary-care facility as it entails the surgical removal of the entire upper extremity, scapula, and clavicle.
Dr. Nott had never performed such a surgery, but luckily, his friend in the UK had, so he sent his friend, Professor Meirion Thomas, a text message. Thomas replied almost immediately with 10 steps Nott should follow to carry out the procedure and then signed off with “Easy! Good luck.”
Press play to listen to a BBC interview with Dr. Nott about the experience:
BBC News: Surgeon saves boy’s life by text…
Médecins Sans Frontières website article…
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