# How Much For a Toe?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-for-a-toe/355858
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 8, 2006, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-for-a-toe/355858 "2006-05-08T07:45:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Andrew\_Bug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andrew_Bug)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2006, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-for-a-toe/355858/1 "2006-05-08T07:45:58Z")
Some friends and I were sitting around complaining about our various debts and I remembered a little piece of information I had heard about. Some medical universities would pay you big money(the figure I recall was $10,000 and I want to say it was the University of Chicago) if you let them remove a toe and sew it back on. If this is true I want in. I would be out of debt and very much in the black again. Does anyone know if this is true? And if so, how do I get in on this action?
I just want to clarify that I am dead serious. I am not crazy,I am an adult(22), and that I could really use this money. So if anyone has any info, please share. I figured this would be the best place to go.
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### Author:  [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2006, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-for-a-toe/355858/2 "2006-05-08T09:15:10Z")
You’re not crazy. I’ve got $100,000 worth of toes they can mess with. :eek:
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### Author:  [@MrJackboots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrJackboots)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2006, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-for-a-toe/355858/3 "2006-05-08T10:13:11Z")
I suspect strongly that it is a reincarnation of [this particular urban legend.](http://snopes.com/college/medical/testicle.asp)
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### Author:  [@T\_SQUARE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T_SQUARE)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2006, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-for-a-toe/355858/4 "2006-05-08T11:39:37Z")
Doesn’t really seem like the medical school would be getting 10,000 bucks worth of benifit from that. That particular lesson in toe reatachment would be a good chunk of a student’s tuition right there.
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### Author:  [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2006, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-for-a-toe/355858/5 "2006-05-08T12:00:10Z")
A friend of mine lost the last part of his ring finger in an accident at work. His medical bills were covered, and he got $5000 from an insurance policy he has. Every time they are short on money, his wife gets ideas. 😉
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### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2006, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-for-a-toe/355858/6 "2006-05-08T22:49:59Z")
> [@](#):
>
> . Some medical universities would pay you … $10,000 … if you let them remove a **toe** and sew it back on.
>
> A friend of mine lost part of his ring **finger** … he got $5000
must … resist … lame … gag.
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### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2006, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-for-a-toe/355858/7 "2006-05-08T23:02:19Z")
> [@vetbridge](#):
>
> A friend of mine lost the last part of his ring finger in an accident at work. His medical bills were covered, and he got $5000 from an insurance policy he has. Every time they are short on money, his wife gets ideas. 😉
That is accidental death and dismemberment insurance and I work with those plans a lot. Some companies offer several different plans that employees can pay for. Wouldn’t you feel like a real goober if your eye got poked out and you just had the basic AD&D coverage rather than some of the better plans?
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### Author:  [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2006, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-for-a-toe/355858/8 "2006-05-09T00:34:29Z")
Walter Sobchak: You want a toe? I can get you a toe, believe me. There are ways, Dude. You don’t wanna know about it, believe me.
The Dude: Yeah, but Walter…
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### Author:  [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2006, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-for-a-toe/355858/9 "2006-05-09T01:15:22Z")
I financed much of my living expenses in university by participating in medical studies, wherein they give you a drug and take your blood at regular intervals in order to determine how quickly it enters your bloodstream. This netted me between $900 and $2000 a shot, and I was able to participate about once every two months.
While there I heard rumours about the $10,000 for a toe routine; the more baroque version was that a guy told me his brother had participated in a study where they flew him to Switzerland(!), anesthetized him, amputated his toe, then sewed it back on, again for $10,000, then flew him back. Another story said that they would stop your heart for a few seconds and start it up again. The consensus among the participants was that we would gladly do the toe one, but the heart one was going too far.