Trapped man who tried to cut off arm is recovering from surgery
Reporting from West Hartford, Conn. — Doctors who spent more than two hours Friday operating on Jonathan Metz used words like “amazing,” “inner strength” and “courage” to describe their patient, who nearly succeeded in cutting off his arm after it became wedged in his furnace for several days.
Metz is an “amazing individual,” said Dr. William Marshall of St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in West Hartford. “He’s got an incredible personality as well as a will to live.”
Metz, 31, is doing well after the surgeons closed his wound, Marshall and Dr. Scott Ellner said in a telephone interview. Metz was awake and alert after surgery, they said, and was able to do without a breathing machine used during the operation. Problems with his kidneys, common in people with crushing injuries, are almost cleared up.
If his recovery goes well, he may be discharged early next week, Marshall said.
Metz was sitting on some boxes and trying to repair his basement furnace Sunday when his left arm became wedged in its vertical slots. He went in and out of consciousness for days.
When his arm showed signs of a serious infection, he applied a tourniquet and, using whatever tools he could reach, began cutting it off. He nearly succeeded in severing the arm just below the shoulder, Ellner said.
Metz’s act saved his life because it prevented the spread of toxins from the decaying limb, Ellner said. Friends who worried after not hearing from Metz for days called police, who found him Wednesday.
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