# Dr Levitt falls for UL **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [July 12, 2000, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-levitt-falls-for-ul/25329 "2000-07-12T18:00:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2000, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-levitt-falls-for-ul/25329/1 "2000-07-12T18:00:31Z")
Just my opinion. [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2\_385.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_385.html) ---
**Author:** ![warinner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@warinner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/warinner)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2000, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-levitt-falls-for-ul/25329/2 "2000-07-12T19:30:04Z")
Shit, er explosions, happen: > **[Urban Legends Store](https://shop.urbanlegends.com)** > > Shop exclusive music from the Official Urban Legends Store. Andrew Warinner ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2000, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-levitt-falls-for-ul/25329/3 "2000-07-12T20:18:15Z")
But this was not skepticism over flatal combustibility. The specific alleged incident “blasted the surgeon’s head against a wall, and slammed the patient’s head against the table.” Now citate that. ---
**Author:** ![warinner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@warinner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/warinner)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2000, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-levitt-falls-for-ul/25329/4 "2000-07-12T20:59:55Z")
Mjollnir wrote: > [@](#): > > Now citate that. Ain’t my job, McGee. If you wanted documentation of the effects on the surgery you’ll just have to look up the articles yourself. I’ve given you one stomach rupture and three colonic explosions to go on. Andrew Warinner ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-levitt-falls-for-ul/25329/5 "2000-07-13T04:03:49Z")
I did, jack. It was never remotely even implied, jack. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-levitt-falls-for-ul/25329/6 "2000-07-13T14:24:25Z")
I don’t _know_ this but wouldn’t the exploding gas have been methane not hydrogen(if you believe the story)? ---
**Author:** ![warinner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@warinner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/warinner)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-levitt-falls-for-ul/25329/7 "2000-07-13T16:03:01Z")
Mjollnir wrote: > [@](#): > > I did, jack. > > It was never remotely even implied, jack. Knock off the ‘jack’ crap, blowhard. You claimed Dr. Levitt vectored an urban legend. What is it? The legend can’t be ‘explosions can happen during gastrointestinal surgery’ as several cases have been documented. One of the cites even noted ‘explosion in the gastrointestinal tract is a known serious complication.’ Dr. Levitt’s embroidery of the story does not make it an urban legend. It makes Dr. Levitt possibly guilty of exaggeration. Another thing to consider is that the explosions were not harmless. Two of the cases cited required a partial and a total colectomy which suggests that a considerable amount of damage occurred. Did the explosion blow the surgeon against the wall? Beats the hell out of me, but I don’t know how big an explosion would have to be to require a total colectomy, either. The ‘surgeon blown against the wall’ does seem implausible but ‘patient’s head slammed against table’ doesn’t. So you’ve got a story that has at best one exaggeration but is otherwise factually plausible. Is that all it takes to make it an urban legend? CarnalK wrote: > [@](#): > > I don’t _know_ this but wouldn’t the exploding gas have been methane not hydrogen(if you believe the story)? What’s not to believe? > [@](#): > > Three factors are necessary to trigger off an explosion of intestinal gases: the presence of combustible gases (hydrogen, methane), the presence of combustive gases (oxygen, nitrous oxide) and an initiating heat source (endoscopic or surgical electrocautery). The mannitol used for bowel cleansing undergoes partial colonic bacterial fermentation increasing the intraluminal concentration of hydrogen. During anaesthesia the oxygen-nitrous oxide mixture increases the intestinal concentration of these two major combustive gases. Electrocautery provides the spark triggering the explosion. > > Bonnet YY. Haberer JP. Schutz R. Simon R. Vanwynsberghe B. Mercier R. > [Explosion of intestinal gas during surgery]. [French] Annales Francaises d Anesthesie et de Reanimation. 2(6):431-5, 1983. Other cites also warn against the use of mannitol because it stimulates the growth of hydrogen producing bacteria. Andrew Warinner ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2000, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-levitt-falls-for-ul/25329/8 "2000-07-14T16:22:48Z")
The column can also be found on pages 385-386 of Cecil Adams’ book “[_More of the Straight Dope_](http://www.straightdope.com/otheroutlets/books.html)”. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2000, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-levitt-falls-for-ul/25329/9 "2000-07-23T18:47:15Z")
Gee, **Mjollnir,** if you need a cite, is the _Weekly World News_ good enough for ya? 😃 [http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/stories/2092.html](http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/stories/2092.html) Granted, it doesn’t mention a doctor; actually, the guy died. But hey, what a scoop! ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2000, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-levitt-falls-for-ul/25329/10 "2000-07-23T20:52:51Z")
At a museum with my daughter, a demonstrator touched a candle to a hydrogen-filled balloon high in the room. I was probably 25 feet away, but the explosion about knocked me off my chair. ---
**Author:** ![Sofis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Sofis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofis)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-levitt-falls-for-ul/25329/11 "2000-07-24T02:46:16Z")
How big was the balloon? ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-levitt-falls-for-ul/25329/12 "2000-07-24T02:56:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sofis \* > \*\*How big was the balloon? \*\* About as big as the average colon… ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-levitt-falls-for-ul/25329/13 "2000-07-24T06:48:09Z")
OK, maybe it was from surprise…the explosion was considerably more than I expected. The balloon was an ordinary toy balloon, as near as I could tell. Perhaps not.