I just spotted this story about a California logger who ended up caught in a deadfall, and had to amputate his own leg with a pocket knife to get away and get to help.
I cannot imagine being able to do that. I mean, I know that in the majority of cases a crushing injury like that is going to mean amputation in the end. But going from admitting that the leg is gone to using a small knife to cut it off oneself? I don’t think I could do that. If I had access to the chain saw, that might be something different - quick and relatively easy to do. But having to work at it with a small knife - that would unman me, I think.
How many Dopers think they could?
In all seriousness, though, I don’t think I could ever amputate a limb as these two men have done. I think I’d cling to the hope that someone will hear my cries/find me before I die if dehydration or complications from the log/boulder crushing my limb.
I think that I am capable of a great deal in the name of survival, but hope that I am never confronted with this question in reality ;). Actually, I am not sure that cutting off the leg would be the wisest course of action. I mean, you will most likely lose consciousness during the process, which is not necessarily expedient to survival. Also, even if you don’t lose consciousness, how far would you be able to drag yourself before you lost too much blood? Not to mention the fact that if you are not familiar with human anatomy, you may end up cutting some sort of major artery and, in effect, just hastening your own death.
Maybe I didn’t read the story closely enough (I just skimmed it), but it seems that he was rescued because someone heard him screaming for help not because he cut off his leg and dragged himself to civilization :dubious:. Good story though and kudos to the man’s bravery. Perhaps all of this is just rationalization for me not thinking I could cut off my own leg (I guess I can add another deficiency to the already long list) ;).
Within the next 12-18 months, someone will be in the wilderness, get his twig and berries caught in some rockslide, and be forced to make the ultimate coyote choice. You ehard it here first.
Yikes. I don’t think I would have the guts to do that. I’d probably just keep waiting and hoping someone found me until I died sooner than amputate my own leg. Since you would think his family would have noticed his absence fairly quickly, and I assume his employer would know what area he was supposed to be in to send a search team, I am surprised that he took such an extreme measure, really.
Still, I can only hope that the person who left this comment on the story wasn’t serious:
I’d totally cut off my leg. Hell, I’d probably cut off an arm too, just to even myself out a little bit. Maybe just start slicing off all my limbs so my friends can call me “Mr. T” (for “torso”), although I suspect it’d be difficutl hacking off an arm w/ a knife in my teeth.
No, but really. His leg was CRUSHED, not just pinned down. He wasn’t like “Oooh, eek, owwie. This blade kinda hurts.”, he probably couldn’t even feel it. Even if he could, a simple t-shirt tourniquet would solve that problem. People do it all the time in these situations. If he were a real man, he’d dig out the limb and have a snack before hobling back to civilization.
Aron Ralston said that the most common reaction he’s had since his episode was “I’d never be able to do that”, and he always responded “Yes, you would”. According to him, you don’t know what you can do until you have to.
