Attempt to sew thumb to hand

Press, 19 July 1979, Page 4

Attempt to sew thumb to hand

PA Invercargill Surgeons at Burwood Hospital, Christchurch, were last evening trying to sew a severed thumb on to the hand of an Ohai youth, aged 17, after an accident at the Linton State mine yesterday morning.

The thumb, packed in ice from a hotel freezer, accompanied the youth, James Sydney Molloy, on a dash by ambulance from Nightcaps to Invercargill and then on a flight to Christchurch. Mr Molloy’s thumb was cut off cleanly at the base of the hand in an accident with a compressed-air machine.

The superintendent of Burwood Hospital (Dr R. H. Claridge) said the hospital had only recently got the surgeons who were experienced in the techniques of micro-surgery.

There had been some good results with the sewing back of hands and fingers. Most micro-surgery of this type was a long job in which the surgeon had to use a microscope to see the work. Some operations could take 12 to 16 hours.

As long as anyone who lost a hand or finger quickly packed it in ice to stop it from deteriorating, there was a chance of successful surgery’s being done at Burwood.