Mr Ferrin, who suffers from spina bifida and had both his legs amputated in June 2005, said he wanted to keep his legs and bury them near his home. “When you go to the dentist and have teeth taken out, you can keep them,” he said. “When you have your appendix removed, you can keep it – so why can’t you keep your legs? They’re mine, after all. I spoke to the registrar, the nurses and even the anaesthetist. I told them all that I wanted to keep the legs. But when I asked the surgeon, he said they wouldn’t give them back, and wouldn’t pay to have them embalmed. I’d have happily paid for that myself but I was never given the chance.”
Mr Ferrin suffered a series of infections in his legs after a blister on his foot burst in 2002, leading to blood poisoning. Doctors fought to save his limbs for two and a half years, and Mr Ferrin even overcame an MRSA superbug infection. “Eventually I had to have them taken off. It was a very difficult thing to come to terms with,” he said. “I think burying the legs would have helped me to move on and get to grips with what had happened. I just couldn’t believe that they wouldn’t give them back to me.
“My initial reaction was utter disbelief. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. They are a part of me. I should get to decide what happens to them. As it is, they were just chucked in an incinerator, never to be seen again. I did consider legal action afterwards but it’s not worth the hassle. I just want to know why this happened, and make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone in the future.” A spokeswoman for University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust said: “It is very rare for a patient to ask to keep a body part following its removal. However, we would deal with each request on an individual basis.”
3 comments:
well I guess the hospital has to destroy any "organic material" for sanitary reasons, because dead body parts can easily spread diseases...
ps : I didn't know you could loose your legs over a simple blister, that's terrifying!! =-O
The spokeswoman says it's rare for a patient to ask to keep a body part? Maybe I don't know anything about this, but I would have assumed it was quite common. I know I'd want the limb to cremate or embalm or bury or whatever.
Even if it's a case of the dangers of "medical waste"... well, I still don't get it. If you die of an infection, your family members can claim your whole disease-addled body to dispose of as they see fit. What's the difference here?
i had a finger amputated in 1987 and before i went into the OR i asked them if i could keep it. they were surprised and the surgeon delivered it himself. i kept it in the small jar for a few years until it started rotting - apparently they did not preserve it correctly. people used to ask me "what happened to your finger?" and i would say "Nothing, i have it right here!"
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