# Another Trapped Person Performs Self-Amputation **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 14, 2003, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-trapped-person-performs-self-amputation/181725 "2003-06-14T02:18:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-trapped-person-performs-self-amputation/181725/1 "2003-06-14T02:18:12Z")
Following up on last month’s US hiker who cut off his arm, this week a farmer in Saskatchewan sliced off his own fingers after his hand was caught in a rock-picker for three days: [Trapped farmer escapes by slicing off fingers](http://www.cbc.ca/storyview/CBC/2003/06/11/finger030611). Is this just a statistical blip, or does this sort of thing happen more often than we think? ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-trapped-person-performs-self-amputation/181725/2 "2003-06-14T05:56:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Northern Piper \* > \*\*Following up on last month’s US hiker who cut off his arm, this week a farmer in Saskatchewan sliced off his own fingers after his hand was caught in a rock-picker for three days: [Trapped farmer escapes by slicing off fingers](http://www.cbc.ca/storyview/CBC/2003/06/11/finger030611). > > Is this just a statistical blip, or does this sort of thing happen more often than we think? \*\* Several years before the rock-climber cut off his arm, I read a riveting account of a forester who was pinned under a tree he was chopping down and amputated his leg. In a hiking mag not too long ago, there was the very sad story of a man whose leg was trapped between two boulders. He kept a journal of his ordeal and was not found until after he died. Perhaps he did not have a tool to sever the leg, or perhaps he just wasn’t willing to do so. It makes me think of whether I would be able to do something like this to save my life. Intellectually, it’s easy to make the bargain – trade a limb for your life – but when it gets right down to it, who really knows what they can and cannot do? ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-trapped-person-performs-self-amputation/181725/3 "2003-06-14T12:15:43Z")
Why can’t someone give themselves reattach a limb so I can start a thread titled “Suture Self”? ---
**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-trapped-person-performs-self-amputation/181725/4 "2003-06-14T12:39:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Satisfying Andy Licious \* > In a hiking mag not too long ago, there was the very sad story of a man whose leg was trapped between two boulders. He kept a journal of his ordeal and was not found until after he died. Perhaps he did not have a tool to sever the leg, or perhaps he just wasn’t willing to do so. Call me gruesome, but this article sounds really interesting. Any idea if it would be available online, or what the guy’s name was? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-trapped-person-performs-self-amputation/181725/5 "2003-06-14T12:45:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Biggirl \* > \*\*Why can’t someone give themselves reattach a limb so I can start a thread titled “Suture Self”? \*\* LOL! That pun should keep me in stitches! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![donkeyoatey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@donkeyoatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/donkeyoatey)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-trapped-person-performs-self-amputation/181725/6 "2003-06-14T12:46:17Z")
I think it 's [utrl=http://www.pinedaleonline.com/miketurner.htm] Mike Turner, **Francesca**. ---
**Author:** ![donkeyoatey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@donkeyoatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/donkeyoatey)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-trapped-person-performs-self-amputation/181725/7 "2003-06-14T12:47:21Z")
[http://www.pinedaleonline.com/miketurner.htm](http://www.pinedaleonline.com/miketurner.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-trapped-person-performs-self-amputation/181725/8 "2003-06-14T18:36:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by donkeyoatey \* > \*\*[http://www.pinedaleonline.com/miketurner.htm](http://www.pinedaleonline.com/miketurner.htm) \*\* Yes, I believe that was the man I read about. I will try to track down the magazine, which gave excerpts of the journal he kept while trapped. ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-trapped-person-performs-self-amputation/181725/9 "2003-06-14T18:42:05Z")
[Here it is.](http://205.147.231.116/search97cgi/s97_cgi?action=View&VdkVgwKey=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebackpacker%2Ecom%2Farticle%2F0%2C2646%2C4585%2C00%2Ehtml%3F&DocOffset=1&DocsFound=1&QueryZip=%22Mike+Turner%22&Collection=backpacker&ViewTemplate=docview%2Ehts&SearchUrl=http%3A%2F%2F205%2E147%2E231%2E116%2Fsearch97cgi%2Fs97%5Fcgi%3Faction%3DSearch%26QueryZip%3D%2522Mike%2BTurner%2522%26ResultTemplate%3DBPResults%252Ehts%26QueryText%3D%2522Mike%2BTurner%2522%26Collection%3Dbackpacker%26ViewTemplate%3Ddocview%252Ehts%26ResultStart%3D1%26ResultCount%3D10&) ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-trapped-person-performs-self-amputation/181725/10 "2003-06-14T18:53:53Z")
I was so bored at work last week, that I chewed my own head off to escape. ---
**Author:** ![nitek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@nitek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nitek)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-trapped-person-performs-self-amputation/181725/11 "2003-06-14T18:54:31Z")
As for the man in Saskatchewan , I read that he was trapped for a couple of days and was hallucinating quite vividly when he cut off his fingers.