Australian doctor uses household drill to save boy

Th3Branded0ne

I'll be back.
Arizona Republic Newspaper


May. 19, 2009 06:20 PM
Associated Press




MELBOURNE, Australia - A doctor in rural Australia used a household drill to bore a hole into the skull of a boy with a severe head injury, saving his life.

Nicholas Rossi fell off his bike on Friday in the small Victoria state city of Maryborough, hitting his head on the pavement, his family told The Australian newspaper in a story published Wednesday. By the time Rossi got to the hospital, he was slipping in and out of consciousness.

The doctor on duty, Rob Carson, quickly recognized the 13-year-old was experiencing potentially fatal bleeding on the brain and knew he had only minutes to drill a hole through the boy's skull to relieve the pressure.
But the small hospital was not equipped with neurological drills - so Carson grabbed a household drill from the maintenance room.

"Dr. Carson came over to us and said, I am going to have to drill into (Nicholas) to relieve the pressure on the brain - we've got one shot at this and one shot only,'" the boy's father, Michael Rossi, told The Australian.

Carson called a Melbourne neurosurgeon for help, and the specialist talked Carson through the procedure - which he had never before attempted - by telling him where to aim the drill and how deep to go. Soon, a blood clot fell out, relieving the pressure on the boy's brain.

Rossi was airlifted to a larger hospital in Melbourne and released Tuesday - his 13th birthday.

Carson was modest about his feat.

"It is not a personal achievement, it is just a part of the job and I had a very good team of people helping me," he told the newspaper.

Michael Rossi was more effusive.

"He saved our son's life," he said.

Good thinking from the doctor. He must have seen plenty of MacGyver episodes.
 

Aazealh

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Th3Branded0ne said:
He must have seen plenty of MacGyver episodes.

Or studied medicine for years and years and known that medical tools are not fundamentally different from their household counterparts.
 

Vampire_Hunter_Bob

Cats are great
Aazealh said:
Or studied medicine for years and years and known that medical tools are not fundamentally different from their household counterparts.

This.

However, good job on the doctor's part for noticing the build up of blood. It's amazing how that is sometimes over looked.
 

Walter

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The article doesn't mention anything about sterilizing the drill bit ... I wonder if they did?
 

SimplyEd

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Th3Branded0ne said:
Good thinking from the doctor. He must have seen plenty of MacGyver episodes.

I agree, though MacGyver would have managed the same with just a toothpick, rubberband and some spit (disinfection purposes...works wonders). I think i should mention that while i applaud the success of this measure, i'm somewhat certain that the victim is traumatized for life. Still better than being dead though.
 

Aazealh

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He couldn't have been fully conscious with a brain hemorrhage anyway. And because the doctor used an unconventional tool doesn't mean he operated the boy in his garage...
 

SimplyEd

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Aazealh said:
He couldn't have been fully conscious with a brain hemorrhage anyway. And because the doctor used an unconventional tool doesn't mean he operated the boy in his garage...

Yeah, i suffered quite a few similar injuries like that boy, back when i was still a kid. Thankfully it didn't turn out quite as drastic as this little horror story but even then, things like that stay with you for the rest of your life. I'm just glad everything worked out for him.
 

SimplyEd

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Vampire_Hunter_Bob said:
A bump on the head isn't the same thing as your brain bleeding.

Well, more like a cerebral concussion with lots of blood loss and brain swelling. But no brain hemorrhage like that kid.
 
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