So this happened quite a few years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. I work at one of the large teaching hospitals in Philadelphia, in a satelite facility, and this occurs around 6p on a Friday afternoon in the summer.
We get a call from the OR that they have an amputated limb, and they want to ensure they bring it to the lab correctly. I contact the Pathology resident on-call to get instructions and relay it back to the OR. At this point they say they are bringing it to the laboratory, but have not mentioned what limb it was. As the title suggests, it was a leg from an above the knee amputation from a very large, obese individual.
Well, this limb is too large for our refrigerators, and needs to be transported to the Main Facility. It’s far too heavy to just carry the block and a half, so I place it on the cart we have and use disposible lab coats to cover the biohazard bag it is in, and off I go.
So first thing is I get on the sidewalk, and it is uneven bricks, so the cart is vibrating and this leg is trying to vibrate off the cart, so I end up practically laying on the leg to keep it in place. I get to a corner and need to wait for the light to cross the street, so I stand up to relax for a moment and a gust of wind all but pulls the lab coat off the cart, so once I lay across the leg.
I get the leg to the Pathology area, and the lab assistant that met me there tells me to go ahead and put it in the refrigerator as she fills out the log. So I lift this limb and as I push it onto the shelf, the ankle (which I was holding onto) flexes. Well at this point my mind freaks out, I start screaming “IT MOVED, IT MOVED” and out the door I ran.
The poor lab assistant is laughing so hard she is crying. I eventually calm down enough to go back and finish putting the leg in the refrigerator and get my cart.
But yeah, I thought an amputated leg was still alive.
Submitted by:
Audrey Smith
Medical Technologist/Scientist
Philadelphia USA
