Chinese man saws off his own leg to avoid hospital fees

[Desire]

Chinese man hacks off his own infected leg with a saw and a back-scratcher - because he could not afford hospital bills

• Zheng Yanliang was suffering from massive arterial thrombosis
• Mr Yanliang took the drastic step after pain became too much to bear
  
• Luckily, the thrombosis stopped him bleeding too much
  

By EMMA THOMAS PUBLISHED: 10:34 GMT, 11 October 2013 | UPDATED: 22:10 GMT, 11 October 2013

A man hacked off his own leg using only a metal saw, a small fruit knife and a back scratcher wrapped with a towel because he couldn't afford hospital bills. According to Shanghaiist.com, Zheng Yanliang, 47, from Boading city, China, began to experience bouts of pain in his abdomen that traveled to both of his legs. He was diagnosed with massive arterial thrombosis in both legs. As the pain worsened, he decided to take the gruesome step of removing the infected limb himself to avoid the expensive hospital bill.

Excruciating: Mr Yanliang took the desperate step of removing his own infected right leg. He had been diagnosed with massive thrombosis and was in severe pain

Angiograms taken before the home amputation showed that all of the arteries in his right leg were completely gone.Doctors told the Mr Yanliang, known in his town as being a 'tough guy', the disease was very rarely seen, and he wasn't likely to live more than a month.For three months, Mr Yanliang was tormented by pain to the point of fuzzy consciousness, screaming so loud that his neighbors could not sleep.He said. 'It was very painful and they gave me medication but it didn't help.'The farmer went to several hospitals in Beijing and Hebei but every time he was simply sent home with more medication to his farm in Qingyuan county's Dongzang village.

He said: 'Sometimes the pain was so intense I would pass out, then after three months when it was really bad, they told me that an infection had set in, that I had gangrene, and that I might lose the limb.'Ideally I needed it to be operated on, but I could not afford it. They just gave me medication. They sent me home to die.'One night, after his wife had gone to bed, Mr Yanliang found a fruit knife, a metal saw and a towel-wrapped back scratcher and began amputating his own leg.

Zheng Yanliang used the saw and the knife to cut away at the flesh while biting down on a back scratcher to help him withstand the pain

As the pain in Zheng's leg increased, he grabbed the saw and fruit knife and performed the amputation himself

Zheng Yanliang points to the wrapped up remains of his leg that he disposed of with the rest of his rubbish

He said: 'I had a wooden back scratcher, I wrapped a towel around it, and bit on it so I did not scream and wake my wife, then I used the knife to slice the skin and pull it back so I could see the bone. Then I used the saw to slice through the bone after putting a belt around the leg to stop the blood flow. 'I did not want to distress my wife, but I had to wake her when the hacksaw blade broke.'More than 20 minutes later, his wife awoke and found him with his right leg amputated. Her husband’s right leg had been sawed off about 15 centimeters from the hip, and the metal saw used for the amputation had snapped into two from the excessive force, and on the table were 4 molars that had been bitten off. Fortunately, because of the thrombosis, there wasn’t much blood during the amputation.

Painful: Mr Yanliag's leg was severed about 15 centimetres from his hip

Wheelchair-bound: Farmer Mr Yanliang is unable to work since the loss of his limb. He said medication he was given did not help

Farm: Up until his illness, Mr Yanliang ran the family farm

The operation saved his life, but now the open wound that still shows a stump of bone has led to a fresh infection, this time in his left leg. Doctors say he will not be able to save his remaining foot - and he needs an operation if he is not to lose the entire left leg. As Zheng's condition worsens, Zheng's wife, who suffers from diabetes and heart disease, is forced to tend to the farm on her own.
The family's only financial support comes from their 17-year-old daughter, who dropped out of school to take a job. Mr Yanliang is now asking his community to help pay for an artificial limb, so that he can carry on with his life and take care of his family.The local reporter who covered the story has opened a phone line for donations from readers.

Treatment: Zheng Yanliang (right) now faces an uncertain future and needs to raise more money for another operation

Struggle: Mr Yanliang's wife, who has her own health problems, is tending to their farm. The family's only financial support comes from their 17-year-old daughter who dropped out of school to help her parents


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[BalanceOfPower]

Man hospitalized years after amputating own leg

Xinhua, October 13, 2013

A Chinese man has been hospitalized soon after media reports revealed his horrific story of amputating his diseased leg himself about a year and a half ago.

Zheng Yanliang, a peasant from north China's Hebei Province, was taken to the No. 2 Hospital of Baoding, a city 150 km northeast of provincial capital Shijiazhuang, on Friday afternoon for medical observation and further treatment.

Zheng received medical examinations on Saturday, and doctors are working on plans for his further treatment, according to Ge Changqing, director of the hospital.

In a case that has exposed shortcomings in China's medical assistance mechanism, the 47-year-old cut off his almost necrotic right leg with a knife and a hacksaw on April 14, 2012 after local hospitals either refused to take him in or demanded exorbitant fees.

"One hospital asked us to pay 300,000 yuan (49,000 U.S. dollars) as an advance deposit, and we were told that follow-up medical treatment would cost more than 1 million yuan, which was far beyond our financial means," Zheng's wife, Shen Zhonghong, told Xinhua.

Zheng used to work slack seasons at a local brick kiln, earning no more than 1,000 yuan a month.

He was diagnosed with arterial thrombosis of the lower limbs in early 2012 after aches in his buttocks and thighs left him hardly able to walk.

After retreating from hospitals, where doctors said he could only survive for three more months, Zheng began pinning his hopes on conservative therapy, which meant he had to resort to shots to relieve his pain.

However, his disease quickly deteriorated, with his legs beginning to fester.

On April 11, three days before he amputated his leg, he even noticed maggots crawling out of his festering muscles, impelling him to summon the guts and make his final decision.

Zheng said he did not feel much pain when cutting into his muscles, and little blood spilled out due to the clotting. "But when the hacksaw went deeper to cut the bones, the pain was unbearable. I had to bite a bamboo chip bundled with toweling to endure it."

Zheng's other leg is also in a terrible state and his left foot has already completely festered away.

Zheng was left in this misery because of healthcare loopholes.

Although he is covered under a rural cooperative medical system that enables farmers to afford basic hospital services, he would have had to accept hospitalization and pay the costs up front in order to claim them back.

His story, after it was broken on Thursday by local newspaper the Yanzhao Evening News, has triggered wide discussion on the Internet and a flood of donations.p The Red Cross societies in Baoding and Hebei Province have given 25,000 yuan to Zheng, bringing the total donations to more than 50,000 within only a few days.

Baoding Hospital's Ge said that all of the amputee's hospital expenses would be exempted.

Over 96 percent of China's total rural population has access to the new rural cooperative medical insurance, but only common diseases are covered, said Guo Shuqin, deputy director of the Baoding Health Bureau and president of Baoding No.1 Center Hospital.

Zheng's particular disease cannot be covered by the low-level, wide-reaching medical insurance, Guo said.

China's medical insurance also covers 70 percent of medical costs for 20 serious diseases, including cancer and cerebrovascular diseases, but Zheng's condition is not among the 20 covered diseases, Guo added.

Guo suggested the government provide funds for such rare diseases.

The government is also obliged to inform the public, especially rural residents, that they should report their problems to relevant departments and ask for assistance, according to Guo, who also called on China to roll out some assistance policies.