From amputations performed with pocketknives to appendectomies done on kitchen tables, the newspaper archives are filled with horrifying stories of people who took surgery into their own hands. These seven true cases prove just how far people are willing to go just to eliminate pain, even when it defies all reason.
1. Amputated His Foot After Surgeons Turned Him Away
First, let’s begin with a man named William Murphy who performed an amputation upon himself which some of the most eminent surgeons of the time refused to undertake.
“With a pocketknife, he amputated his right foot while no one was present in the room and then called his brothers, who [quickly] staunched the flow of blood. The young man’s [health improved]. He had been told that amputation of [his foot] would result [in death].
“Murphy [was] 20 years old, and during his life [he] begged to have his deformed foot cut off, but no surgeon who examined him thought he could survive the operation.”
Source: Monroe City Democrat. Monroe City, Mo. April 13, 1899.
2. He Slashed Away to End the Pain
Next, a nearly unbelievable report from 1908 tells of a man who attempted to remove his own appendix. He survived, thanks to his friends.
As reported in the Daily Arizona Silver Belt newspaper:
“Minneapolis surgeons…[had] an opportunity to learn the effects of an operation for appendicitis performed with a jackknife by the sufferer himself and his friends…”
According to his account, three years before seeking medical help, he began to cut himself open to relieve the pain. His friends, horrified, stitched the wound shut with common sewing thread. His appendix remained intact and continued to cause him agony until he finally sought professional treatment.
Source: Daily Arizona Silver Belt. Globe, Gila County, Ariz. May 16, 1908.
3. Stuck a Chisel Up His Nose
Now this next case is truly cringe-inducing. In 1909, a doctor named Oscar Taylor attempted to remove a growth from his own nose using a chisel.
According to one report:
“Dr. Oscar Taylor, of Berkeley, is dead at the Lan Hospital as the result of an operation that he performed himself for the removal of a growth in the nose. He had operated on himself twice before with partial success, but the third time he hit the chisel too hard and caused it to pierce the base of his brain.”
Source: Bridgeton Pioneer. Bridgeton, N.J. May 27, 1909.
4. Passed Out After Making Incision
In 1913, an Oklahoma farmer took matters into his own hands when another attack of appendicitis struck.
A report states that:
“Carlyle Goldsmith, a young farmer, operated on himself for acute appendicitis and is on the way to recovery.
“Goldsmith is 24 years old and a muscular man. This was his fourth attack of appendicitis. The pain was so agonizing that Goldsmith was convinced he must be relieved quickly.
“Calling his wife to his bedside, Goldsmith told her to bring clean cloths, warm water, and a bottle of carbolic acid. Then he asked for a knife.
“Mrs. Goldsmith stood beside him and lent such assistance as she could.
“He made an incision four inches long through the abdominal wall. The cutting caused less pain than the acid.
“The operation came abruptly to an end when Goldsmith fainted and fell from his bed to the floor on his face. Mrs. Goldsmith telephoned her neighbors for help. Ten minutes later, [the doctor] arrived. The physician dressed the wound. The appendix was removed. No complications have ensued.”
Source: Bismarck Daily Tribune. Bismarck, North Dakota. July 25, 1913.
5. Tried to Remove Bullet
A year later, in 1914, a 16-year-old boy, shot by police during a robbery, attempted to extract the bullet himself.
According to the article:
“Lying in a Buffalo hospital in a critical condition, 16-year-old Francis Burden told how he had operated on himself with a penknife after he had been shot by a policeman when caught robbing a store. A bullet entered the back of Burden’s leg and lodged under the knee cap. With an ordinary penknife the youth removed the lead. He will probably die from blood poisoning.”
Source: The Milwaukee Leader. Milwaukee, Wis. March 28, 1914.
6. Butcher Knife Operation
Next we have a gruesome report from Ohio in 1923 that tells of a man who, overwhelmed by pain, turned to a butcher knife for relief.
It reads:
“Crazed with pain, Andrew Mikula, 59, operated on himself with a butcher knife and died from loss of blood shortly afterward.”
He told his wife, Mary, that the pain was just too much after he cut out one of his organs and tossed it to the floor.
His wife “saw blood spurting from her husband’s chest, into which he also had plunged the knife.”
A doctor was called to the home, but Andrew died before he arrived.
Source: The Washington Times. Washington, D.C. April 3, 1923.
7. Couldn’t Afford a Surgeon
Finally, in 1930, a New York man attempted to remove his own appendix after deciding he couldn’t afford surgery.
Using a medical book as a guide, he located his appendix and removed part of it with a razor blade, without anesthesia.
When the pain persisted, he reopened the wound and cut deeper.
Infection soon set in, and despite seeking hospital care, he died from blood poisoning.
Source: The Indianapolis Times. Indianapolis, Ind. May 13, 1930.
