INSTANT AMPUTATION.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 251, 22 October 1924, Page 5

INSTANT AMPUTATION.

LEG REMOVED ON ROAD. OPERATION UNDER TRAM. (Received 10 n.m.) SYDNEY, this day. The amputation of the leg of the boy who was caught under a Paddirigton tram, cabled yesterday, was a remarkable operation. The limb was caught between two converging bands of specially toughened steel, which would have taken too long to cut or remove if the boy's life was to be saved. Three doctors were engaged, partly crouching, and partly lying under the tram, with the patient in a most awkward position. They administered an anaesthetic, then in the half light, guided more by touch than sight, had to perform the delicate work of severing the limb and stopping the blood flow, and removing the collapsed boy. AH was done with remarkable celerity and success. Traffic was suspended and a police cordon kept the great crowd from pressing too closely on to the impromptu operating theatre. The accident has raised a controversy on the need for preventing boys from stealing rides on tram footboards. It is admitted that the police and tram officers are practically powerless to stop this. One suggestion is that the broadcasters add to their bedtime stories strict warning to youngsters against the practice.—(A. and N.Z. Cable.)