Jakob Whitfield e-mails with another worthy entry for Stuart's Encyclopaedia of Strange Amputations, concerning the 19th century surgeon, Robert Liston. I was actually told about Liston by my own orthopaedic surgeon, which naturally filled me with confidence in his abilities.

Apparently Liston was regarded as the fastest saw in the west. During one operation he -- in under two and a half minutes -- amputated the leg of his patient (who later died from gangrene), sliced off the fingers of his assistant (who later died from gangrene) and slashed through the coat-tails of a spectator (who dropped dead from fright). Liston thus performed the only operation in surgical history to have a 300 per cent mortality rate.

Good going Dr Liston.

Also on the e-mail, fellow blogger Kitty Bukkake sends a picture of herself doing a hand-stand, in which it looks as if both her legs have been amputated at the knee.



Kitty Bukkake -- crazy name, crazy gal!

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