Very lucky guy

[SitFlyer]

Man Survives 18-Inch Drill Bit in Head

....survived a freak accident in which an 18-inch drill bit penetrated through his right eye into his skull, but left him with no serious damage to his brain. ..........
After weighing their options, doctors essentially unscrewed the bit to remove it.

[Brian Ellis]

I wonder whether this is not a bit of minor fraud.

1. This was supposed to happen a few days ago.
2, His eye (in the photo) is clumsily bandaged with an adhesive patch
3. There is no sign of bandaging where the exit wound is supposed to have taken place, behind the right ear.
4. The X-ray would have been very easy to fake and the drill bit appears to be well below the orbit level, roughly mid-nose.
5. Ron Hunt Medical Fund
Bank of the West
11202 Donner Pass Road
Truckee, Calif., 96161 for the gullible.

My guess is that ABC have been tricked.

[SitFlyer]

Nope, it's actually true

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/techno/drillbit.asp

[Brian Ellis]

Sorry, SF, I'm even more sceptical. Your site (based on minor local media), shows a much clearer X-ray pic. There is no doubt that the drill is shown as penetrating even lower than I thought, at the level of the bottom of the nose, at least 5 cm below the centre of the orbit. There is no sign of fracture of the bone structure below the eye, as would have been the case had the drill been dragged down to that position after penetration.

[MultimediaMan]

Hess, Scott. "Man Survives Horrific Construction Accident."
Sierra Sun. 27 August 2003.

Powers, Lenita. "Freak Accident Draws National Attention."
Reno Gazette-Journal. 2 September 2003.

Associated Press. "Man Survives 18-Inch Drill Bit Through Head; X-Ray Proves It."
Reno Gazette-Journal. 2 September 2003.

Associated Press. "Construction Worker Survives Drill Through Head."
CNN.com. 3 September 2003.

Please note that is a side shot, he would be dead if the bit went through the Upper/Centre part of the socket. This is a wood bit, and if you look carefully, the spiral relief of the bit allowed it to ride very low on the rim of the orbit...the centerline of the bit is nearly even with the bottom of the orbit: You can clearly see the bit's spiral straddling the orbit. The bone at the rear of the eyesocket is nearly paper thin, and at the high exposure level that X-Ray was taken at, it would have been quite easy for those pieces of bone to go unseen. They wouldn't have dared do an MRI or CAT scan due to the ferrous metal of the drill bit.

It is quite likely that the bit settled into that position AFTER the injury had occured....the papers did say that it was the paramedics who removed the bit from the drill. These drills are large and heavy, and would have had tremendous leverage to shift the bit within the wound area after the initial trauma. The Bit would have not been sharp enough on the relief spiral to tear flesh easily.

A regular adhesive eyepatch is a standard dressing for a fully enucleated eye, you CAN see substantial swelling/bruising in the area to the left of the bandage.

He probably had 30+ stitches in the back of his head to close the exit wound, which explains the baseball cap.

I am intimately familar with eye surgeries. I lost the use of my right eye nearly 20 years ago, and went through three surgeries.

[Dr Mordrid]

Sorry Brian, but it is true and not that unusual.

This is actually one of the tamer oddball injuries I've seen over the years. Some of the more strange ones include;

1. One day a 12 year old kid fell out of a tree. Unfortunately he landed on a car. The radio antenna (non-telescoping) entered near his anus and exited near the xiphoid process (bottom of sternum). The child survived with no serious internal injuries.

2. a gentleman was mugged, knocked to the ground then shot several times in the head. A while later he woke up, walked to a nearby hospitals emergency room and complained of a headache. He survived with no serious after effects.

3. back before collapsible steering columns were put in new cars we used to get at least 3-5 thoracic penetrations a week. Some would die immediately, but more would come into the emergency room with a steering column going through and through their chest. Rescue crews would cut 'em off with a torch and bring in the victim laying on their side with the hardware sticking out both front and rear. Gruesome.

4. ever see an arrow through the head? I've seen at least 5.

5. the various flashlights (several of which were 4-6 cell models), light bulbs (!!), coke bottles, gardening implements and other hardware found in the lower intestinal tract of some patients

6. then there was the business gal who, while driving to a meeting, was masturbating with an eye liner pencil. She hit a bump and had an oopsie: it slid through her urethra and into her bladder

7. then there is my favorite: some absolute morons decided to rob a national guard armory just outside of Detroit. One of 'em was messing with a mortar round when its propulsion charge went off, causing the round to penetrate his abdomen. The squad loaded him up and, with police and military police escorts, brought him to our ER (closest public hospital & safest route) at about 5 mph.

The hospital administrators asked for single volunteers (guess who?). We set up a tent in a remote area of the parking lot, hauled out 2 portable x-ray units, a gurney, tables, portable lights & surgical packs and removed it right there. The Sheriff Departments bomb squad then placed it in a bomb truck, took it to one of their facilities and detonated it. TONS of fun

Ahhhh.......the good old days....

Dr. Mordrid

[stcynic]

" 'T is strange,--but true; for Truth is always strange--
Stranger than fiction..."

[Indiana]

Brian is correct: this one has "fraud" written all over it. The drill is just in the wrong position (even if you consider the not exact angulation of the x-ray, it merely just reaches the orbitas floor and fully crosses the maxilla. There would have to be MAJOR tissue-defects visible under the orbit if you look at the x-ray.

Originally posted by MultimediaMan

They wouldn't have dared do an MRI or CAT scan due to the ferrous metal of the drill bit.

That's BS. Ferrous metal (while degrading image quality) is in no way a contraindication for a CAT scan.
In contrary, after such a trauma doing an CAT scan after removal of the drill is an absolute must-do.

[Dr Mordrid]

You didn't mention what would happen to ferrous metal in an MRI

Doing some online research shows that the hole did not go thorugh the orbital floor and out the back of his head but through the orbit itself with the exit being at the top of the ear. Given the that the positioning isn't ideal the image looks about right.

Dr. Mordrid

[Admiral]

5. the various flashlights (several of which were 4-6 cell models), light bulbs (!!), coke bottles, gardening implements and other hardware found in the lower intestinal tract of some patients

6. then there was the business gal who, while driving to a meeting, was masturbating with an eye liner pencil. She hit a bump and had an oopsie: it slid through her urethra and into her bladder

Quite some sick people in this world

[Dr Mordrid]

You have NO idea until you've worked an ER

Dr. Mordrid

[Tjalfe]

Sick indeed.. but I can just imagine the funny excuses they make up when they come in with something like that..
" well I came out the shower and sat down.. oops.. did not see the candle / flashlight / coke bottle"

[Dr Mordrid]

Understatement of the century.

The accidental sit-down is one of the more popular, but a close second is someone claiming they were giving themselves an enema with the coke/pepsi/beer/wine bottle.

I never did get a good excuse for the food service worker who swallowed a soup ladle. Its bowl was in his stomach and the handle ran up his esophagus.

Weekends in particular were almost like getting paid to go to a 3 ring circus. Lots of weekends and holidays made M.A.S.H. look tame by comparison.

Dr. Mordrid

[MultimediaMan]

A head CT probably couldn't have been done with the size of the bit, anyhow.

[Dr Mordrid]

Not with the bit in there as you'd not see much next to the bit. Best to do it right after removal unless he popped a bleeder, then the OR would be the next stop.

Dr. Mordrid