Warning: this article contains graphic details of genitalia mutilation.
Bobbitize, v: to cut off one’s manhood. Read Lorena Bobbit .
Why are you still reading this? Pervert… :P
Anyway, here’s the story.
Back when I was a HO in the medical department in GHKL, I was in-charge of Ward P2 (a.k.a HELL) where we have an average of 70 patients at any one time (and that’s considered manageable).
I remember 2 patients, both Indian males. One was admitted for alcohol intoxication, the other was found in a comatose state in Jalan TAR by the St John’s Ambulance (I really dislike these fellas, I mean the latter, not the patient). Because they (not the St John guys, but the patients) could not tolerate orally we had to hydrate them with iv drip. My MO ordered for condom catheters to be placed for both of them in order to monitor their urine output.
In case you are wondering what a condom cath looks like, this is a pic:
Now, the ones we have in the ward aren’t as nice as the one in the pic and truth be told, they don’t fit that snugly either. If they were used for contraception purpose, Malaysia would have achieved it’s 70 million population decades earlier.
And so, one way to secure them was to plaster it to the, er….thing. This unpleasant plastering was usually performed by the nurses. Apparently, a student nurse did the job for these 2 men.
The first patient was out for 4 days. The other one remained comatose. On the 5th day, the specialist was doing his rounds with us and he thought to check on the condom caths. What we saw shocked us. On both patients, the plaster was wound so tightly many times around the penis (there I said the ‘p’ word) that the distal half were gangrenous!!!!
Ouch!
The family of the first guy was alerted and my specialist spoke at length to them, being very apologetic and promising a full enquiry into the incident. An urgent urology referral was made. The surgeons took him into the OT and removed the gangrenous part.
The second man was not so lucky. He passed away that night due to sepsis.
The first guy made an uneventful recovery and was discharged well, although he was a lot shorter in certain part of his anatomy. A stump actually….
We never found out who the bobbitizer was. She could be out there now, a senior nurse in some hospital some where, wielding her roll of plaster, waiting for the next unsuspecting comatose male patient. Eeewwwwww!
Be afraid…., be VERY afraid.
Wed, 080807 @ 1612; in KL for a meeting. Sigh.
