A woman gave birth to a healthy baby boy after performing a Caesarean on herself with a kitchen knife. It is thought to be the first known case of a self-inflicted Caesarean in which both the mother and baby survived.
The unidentified 40-year-old, lived in a rural area of Mexico without electricity or running water, and eight hours from the nearest hospital.
The International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics reported the case.
The woman performed the operation when she could not deliver the baby naturally, having lost a previous baby due to labour complications.
Hard liquor
Dr R Valle, of the Dr Manuel Velasco Suarez Hospital in San Pablo, Mexico, said: "She took three small glasses of hard liquor and, using a kitchen knife, sliced her abdomen in three attempts and delivered a male infant that breathed immediately and cried."
This case represents an unusual and extraordinary decision by a woman in labour
Dr R Valle Before losing consciousness, the woman told one of her children to call a local nurse for help.
After the nurse stitched the wound with a sewing needle and cotton thread, the mother and baby were transferred and treated by Dr Valle and his colleagues at the nearest hospital.
"This case represents an unusual and extraordinary decision by a woman in labour who, unable to deliver herself spontaneously, and with no medical help or resources, decided to perform a caesarean section upon herself," he said.
He added that a mother's instinct to save her child can move a woman to perform extraordinary acts but said it would not have been necessary if adequate medical care had been available.
Professor James Walker, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at St James's University Hospital, Leeds, said the situation should never arise in the UK.
However, there were historically cases of farmers performing Caesareans on their wives having previously carried out the operation on animals, he said.
Professor Walker said: "In this country, there is virtually never a situation when an individual is totally isolated from medical care even in the most outlying areas.
"If people get into bother they should contact medical services."
Even in the remotest islands of Scotland there were GPs and minor surgery units, or specialists could be flown in during emergencies, he said.
Can you imagine doing that to yourself?
Homeless
Hall of Fame Hero
Posts: 10011
Joined: 21 Aug 2002
Yards this season: 0
Home Cafe: Football
Location: I could be anywhere! and so could my SILK scarf! M&M's anyone ?
well, most of us are guys and we don't even tweeze our eyebrows for crying out loud (terpfan excepted perhaps), so I don't think there's enough alcohol in Mexico to make me do that to myself
Poobah wrote:well, most of us are guys and we don't even tweeze our eyebrows for crying out loud (terpfan excepted perhaps), so I don't think there's enough alcohol in Mexico to make me do that to myself
Poobah wrote:well, most of us are guys and we don't even tweeze our eyebrows for crying out loud (terpfan excepted perhaps), so I don't think there's enough alcohol in Mexico to make me do that to myself
hey hey it was only that one time!
OK, so I have a "raised" eyebrow on one side where I would look like a Vulcan if I shaved off part of my eyebrow...so I take the less weird route and cut off the raised part. If that makes me weird, so be it. I still would not try to pull a LV-426 colonist and have my stomach opened (Aliens reference if you weren't aware).
The One, the Only, the Incomparable Mercer Boy. My My YouTube.
Cafe Home
Fantasy Baseball
Fantasy Basketball
Fantasy Hockey
by Homeless » Wed Apr 07, 2004 8:03 am 
Can you imagine doing that to yourself?
![:-]](./images/smilies/smirk.gif "Scottie")
