Scary accident

[Silas Smith]

Well, my friends dad just got into a serious accident using his miter saw. My friend is finishing his basement and his dad came over to help him do the corners of his crown molding. Because he was not measuring and was just going to start the corners, he was in a hurry. He put it in and secured it in with his right hand. He then reached across his body and pulled the blade down with his left hand.

Somehow he misjudged the angle of the blade and he ended up cutting from the mid point of his pointer finger, down through his thumb and ending up about 2 inches down his wrist. Because he was in a hurry, he had amputated the whole thing before he even realized it happened. In fact, it would have gone further into his wrist except it hit his watch and the blade stalled. When he realized what he did, he jerked his hand out and cut off 95% of his ring finger on the same hand.

He screamed to his son that he cut his thumb off and my friend told his wife to call 911. He then took his belt off and made it a turnaquit (spelling?) When he got to the hospital he was in surgery for 12 hours. They thought they were able to re-attach it, but we found out a couple of days ago that the thumb didn't take. Apparently, they knew this when they couldn't get the medical leaches to stick. My friend was really beating himself up that he had done something wrong with the thumb and it was his fault that they couldn't save it, but the doctor took him aside and said that his dad shouldn't have even made it to the hospital. He should have bled out because he severed 4 arteries.

Anyway, this was two days after my friend had come to my house and I stopped him from clearing the offcut until the blade had come to a stop. i remember making some comment about being anal about safety, but in an instant you could change your life. I am already pretty good about following a cut throught before I make it, but this is a pretty good reminder. It also makes me thing the laser on my miter saw might be a little better than a gimick. If his saw had a laser, he might have seen where the blade was going to end up. Anyway, I just think it's important to post these accidents to keep us all honest about the dangers of our hobby.

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

I agree about posting the accidents. WE ALL get forgetful and need a safety reminder.

I'm sorry for his father, but this might help someone, NOT repeat the accident.

Thanks,

Bruce

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

pulled the blade down with his left hand. [...] cutting from the mid point of his pointer finger, down through his thumb and ending up about 2 inches down his wrist.[...] amputated the whole thing[...] it hit his watch and the blade stalled. [...]jerked his hand out and cut off 95% of his ring finger on the same hand.
Holy MOTHER !~!!!!!!

How bad can things go how fast ~!!~??

That is the number thing to avoid - haste and fast moving blades.
God, I feel for the guy.

[glenn bradley]

I surely hope he has a speedy recovery. As disturbing as these things are, I think it is important that they be posted to keep us all from losing respect for our tools, powered or not.

[Silas Smith]

Well, trying to keep on the positive side, he did say that that thumb was worth 100K to him for his death and dismemberment policy. 5K for a sawstop and 95K for his retirement. I guess this guy would be good to ask about the worth of a sawstop. They are looking at putting his big toe on where his thumb was. Of course this is after they are pulling some muscle out of his leg to build up the fleshy part of your thumb. He calls it getting a thoe (thumb/toe):(

[Alex Pufhal]

He screamed to his son that he cut his thumb off and my friend told his wife to call 911. He then took his belt off and made it a turnaquit (spelling?) .

Never apply a tournaquet to a bleeding injury, you will do far more damage that way.

Always apply steady, even, pressue using a towel, cloth or clothing if need be. Replace when saturated.

By profession, I am an Emergency Medical Dispatcher, and Emergency Medical Dispatcher Instructor. Source: NECI Oct. 2006 Manual

ANP

[Don Abele]

Alex, I reviewed the reference you quoted and I must disagree with the advice you posted.

I will qualify my reply first: I have been practicing medicine in the Navy for 20 years at the paramedic level though specifically trained in combat trauma (having done tours of duty in Kuwait/Saudi Arabi, Afghanistan, and Iraq). I have spent the last 13 years as a Physician Assistant equivalent provider specializing in Emergency Medicine and Family Practice.

A partial amputation of the thumb, finger, and incursion into the wrist could create a severe bleeding situation that a trauma dressing could not properly handle and a tourniquet is appropriate.

Also, you should NEVER replace a dressing - you add more to the existing dressing. The original dressing will contain small blood clots which will help to stem the bleeding - if you remove it and replace you, you start all over again forming those clots.

The proper stages of controlling bleeding are: direct pressure (with dressing), pressure points, tourniquet. If one step does not control bleeding you elevate to the next. The average first responder can not adequately perform pressure points.

The bottom line I train to - if it bleeds through a dressing and you (the first responder) are worried about the amount of blood - apply a tourniquet (as close to the wound as possible and only as tight as it takes to stop the bleeding).

I can deal with the problems associated with potential blood clot formation from the tourniquet - I can not fix exsanguation (bleeding out).

Silas, I am sorry for your friends accident but glad for the actions taken - they very well could have saved his life. I wish him a speedy recovery and echo other sentiments that we should learn from this incident and renew our focus on safety.

Be well,

Doc

[Gary Keedwell]

Alex, I reviewed the reference you quoted and I must disagree with the advice you posted.

I will qualify my reply first: I have been practicing medicine in the Navy for 20 years at the paramedic level though specifically trained in combat trauma (having done tours of duty in Kuwait/Saudi Arabi, Afghanistan, and Iraq). I have spent the last 13 years as a Physician Assistant equivalent provider specializing in Emergency Medicine and Family Practice.

A partial amputation of the thumb, finger, and incursion into the wrist could create a severe bleeding situation that a trauma dressing could not properly handle and a tourniquet is appropriate.

Also, you should NEVER replace a dressing - you add more to the existing dressing. The original dressing will contain small blood clots which will help to stem the bleeding - if you remove it and replace you, you start all over again forming those clots.

The proper stages of controlling bleeding are: direct pressure (with dressing), pressure points, tourniquet. If one step does not control bleeding you elevate to the next. The average first responder can not adequately perform pressure points.

The bottom line I train to - if it bleeds through a dressing and you (the first responder) are worried about the amount of blood - apply a tourniquet (as close to the wound as possible and only as tight as it takes to stop the bleeding).

I can deal with the problems associated with potential blood clot formation from the tourniquet - I can not fix exsanguation (bleeding out).

Silas, I am sorry for your friends accident but glad for the actions taken - they very well could have saved his life. I wish him a speedy recovery and echo other sentiments that we should learn from this incident and renew our focus on safety.

Be well,

Doc
As a former combat medic (Viet Nam), I agree with Don.
Gary K.

[Mike King, Sherwood Pk., AB]

I have a friend Steve, who had the same accident about 18 years ago.. It put an end to his woodworking, in fact it put him in Real Estate. Where he's making about 250k a year. Poor guy..

It sounds like the man can see the upside of things. I feel for him, and hope a speedy recovery for him. I'm somewhat afraid of my SCMS, in fact I've installed an Irwin Laser washer and use hold-downs for ANY angle cut..

[Joe Chritz]

Actually you are both correct.

Never put a tourney on an injury. Always put one on if you would die otherwise.

With the damage described it sounds like it did what it was supposed to do. Slowed the bleeding enough to get to a trauma center.

The best thing to do is direct pressue to the effected artery. That is hard to do if there are multiple or you have to move somewhere.

Joe

[Silas Smith]

Well, I learned how to spell tourniquet from this post. To put things into perspective, my friend was trained in the army for this type of injury. I'm not saying it was anything but what every soldier gets, but he was aware of some of the dangers of what he was doing. He was able to apply the belt buckle in the right spot to where it slowed bleeding to this thumb, but still allowed limited blood flow to the rest of his hand. There is a reason that Doctors are underpaid in my book, as they know a heck of alot more about this than I do, but in this case, if he had listened to the 911 dispatcher telling him to take off the tourniquet, the doctor told him that his dad would have died on the way to the hospital. In extreme situations like these, I feel that sometimes you have to go with your gut because you are the guy right in the middle of it with the most information. I think I'm going back into the shop tonight and make a few miter cuts just to make sure I don't get too weird about it. I'm surprised that no one has brought up the point about having a laser on the saw. If I recall, I have read post where there was discussion about this being a gimmick. Of course it's no replacement for safe tool use, I can't help but wonder if he would have looked at the laser before he pulled down on the saw or when he was securing the piece of crown.

[Eric Wong]

Thank you very much for this post. I need this kind of thing on occasion to keep me focused on safety in the shop. I have to tell myself to slow down all the time. Don't be in a hurry. Hope his recovery is swift, glad everyone was thinking fast.

Thanks also to Don for the trauma advice.

[Al Willits]

Thank goodness he's still alive, and good luck on the recovery, whatever they do.
I agree fwiw that it is a good thing to post things like this, being for the most part self taught on woodworking power equipt I have learned quickly that using many of these tools is a full time endeavor, total concentration is needed.

I seem to be finding all the things not to do with the power tools I have recently bought, but luckily with a bit of common sense, a few friends and a lot of help from this forum, I seem to be going though band aids, not tourniquets.

Al....sometimes lots of band aids.....:)

[Nissim Avrahami]

Warning: VERY GRAFIC

Banker lost his fingers while working on CMS

Go to this link
http://www.local10.com/news/11253270/detail.html

You can read the report and if your heart is strong enough...
Below the picture, click on "Images: Finger reattached after etc..

Have a safe work
niki

[Dan Stuewe]

I think it is a very good point about the lasers. But for the washer types; don't you have to turn the saw on, and lower it enough for the blade guard to get out of the way to see the laser line (or move the guard up by hand)? I think it could shine through some blade guards, but not all. If this is the case, and speed is where your mind is, I don't think you'd even see the red line. On the other hand, the "external" lasers would do the trick well, especially if they are just left on so you don't have to remember to turn them on (if they are on a separate switch).

[Steve Clardy]

Wow. Quite a wake up call.
Sure hope he gets healed up ok