NEWS ABOUT: amputation
amputation stories: 6 news briefs
$6.7m award will make life easier, but is no substitute for arm lost in botched injection
Associated Press Mar 5, 09 10:21 AM CST
(Newser Summary) -
Millions of dollars and a landmark Supreme Court victory is great—"The fact that the justice system worked, it's pretty impressive"—but it's still no substitute for a right arm, musician Diana Levine tells the AP. Levine, whose arm was amputated in 2000 after she developed gangrene from a Wyeth anti-nausea drug, was awarded $6.7 million yesterday. She has long struggled with the loss of her livelihood and the challenges of life with only one hand.
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Miss World finalist lost hands and feet after septicemia infection
CNN Jan 24, 09 2:25 AM CST
(Newser Summary) -
A top Brazilian model who underwent the amputation of her hands and feet in an attempt to save her from a life-threatening infection died early this morning, CNN reports. Marianna Bridi di Costa was hospitalized in early January for septicemia triggered by a urinary tract infection. Doctors originally believed Bridi had kidney stones and did not detect the infection until the 20-year-old model was in septic shock.
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Phone helps save Congolese teen
Guardian (UK) Dec 3, 08 5:11 PM CST
(Newser Summary) -
A volunteer surgeon in a Congolese war zone followed texted instructions to perform an amputation that saved a 16-year-old boy's life. The teen's badly injured and infected arm required that his collar bone and shoulder blade be immediately removed, but Dr. David Nott had never conducted such a procedure. He contacted a British colleague back home via phone text, "and he texted back step-by-step instructions," the Guardian reports.
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Lineman suffered infections from 14 wounds in shooting
Florida Times-Union Sep 29, 08 7:20 PM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
Jacksonville Jaguar Richard Collier has lost a leg and is paralyzed below the waist from a shooting earlier this month, doctors said today. The third-year player suffered serious infections from 14 bullet wounds, but is close to recovery and going home. He is “very fortunate to have survived his injuries,” a surgeon told the Florida Times-Union . "That really helped a lot to be a young, strong athlete.”
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'I'm afraid to quit' despite amputation, heart attacks, stroke
ABC News Jan 12, 08 7:26 PM CST
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New Yorkers have grown to know Skip Legault's face well from anti-smoking ads in the subway and on TV over the past few weeks. A smoker since he was eight, Legault has lost a leg to blood clots, suffered two heart attacks in his twenties, and had a debilitating stroke. Worst of all, ABC reports, he can't quit—a detail not made clear in the ad campaign.
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Amputee expected to be banned from Olympics after expert ruling
Guardian (UK) Jan 10, 08 9:00 AM CST
(Newser Summary) -
The double amputee who has petitioned to be included in this year's Olympic track and field events is likely to be denied his request today, the Guardian reports. A biomechanics expert concluded that the J-shaped carbon-fiber prosthetics South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius uses gives him an unfair advantage in stride and stamina over other runners.
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