News Of The Weird Dept.

[dales]

Originally Published By:

logo-news-com-au


A patient who passed gas during an operation was badly burned when the fart ignited a laser being used in the surgery, a hospital report states.

The unnamed woman, in her 30s, was undergoing surgery at Tokyo Medical University Hospital which involved a laser being applied to her cervix.

As the surgery was being carried out in the Shinjuku Ward, she broke wind — sparking the fire, Japanese newspaper the Asahi Shimbun reports.

She was left screaming in agony after the fire burned most of her body, waist and legs, according to a report by external experts into the incident, which was released on Oct. 28.

The committee stated in the report that no flammable materials were in the operating room during the surgery and that equipment was functioning normally.

“When the patient’s intestinal gas leaked into the space of the operation (room), it ignited with the irradiation of the laser, and the burning spread, eventually reaching the surgical drape and causing the fire,” the report stated.

The accident happened on April 15 this year but was only published in a recent hospital report. Tokyo Medical University Hospital is an acute care facility that claims to be the only facility in Japan to carry out surgery using robots.

[RayThom]

Man, that sure stinks.

[Long Run]

Silent but deadly?

[oldr_n_wsr]

I smell a lawsuit.

[Bicycle Bill]

... when the fart ignited a laser being used in the surgery ...

I realize that we're talking an Aussie news service here and their writers' last exposure to a laser was probably the one used against James Bond by the arch-villain Goldfinger in the film of the same name, but flatulence will not ignite a laser.  The laser would be what ignites the combustible gas (usually methane) found *IN* flatulence.

Although this should settle, once and for all, the age-old discussion among adolescent males with regard to whether it is possible to light a fart, saving countless generations from the embarrassment of pubic depilation by accidental use of smoking materials.

-"BB"-

[rubato]

Almost right. The laser does ignite the gas but the flammable portion of the gas is mostly hydrogen for human efflatus. According the Bretherick's Handbook of Reactive Chemical Hazards. Methane is produced by cows but they have very different digestive systems than we do.

I am very doubtful that she could have produced enough gas to cause the injuries described.

yrs,
rubato

[Joe Guy]

That must have been a hefty fart. It's a good thing she expelled the gas or she might have exploded.

[Econoline]

Hydrogen, huh? Well, that explains it...

<(Actual video taken in the O.R.)

[Burning Petard]

I am guessing it was more than just one fart. Read the story carefully. The fire started when the laser was first tuned on--the ignition source. There may ave been several farts before this happened. The actual burning gas may have been a small amount, but it then ignited the 'drape' cloths around the area they were working on and that was the cause of most of the body burns. The fire certainly demonstrates that yes, there were flammable materials present. Or perhaps these Japanese investigators have discovered a new class of materials that will burn but are still non-flammable.

snailgate

[Big RR]

And since the laser was being used on the patient's cervix--the exit orifice of the farts would be fairly close to it; it's not like she was having cataract surgery.

As for the drape, maybe it called non-flammable and was made by the same people who made non-flammable kids pajamas (the ones that went up like sparklers in the presence of a flame) when I was a kid. or maybe it was called inflammable, and the Japanese misunderstood the English word.

[Bicycle Bill]

or maybe it was called inflammable, and the Japanese misunderstood the English word.

Which of course raises the question, "Why does flammable and inflammable mean the same thing when in almost every other case — inoperable, incapable, inscrutable, insufficient, insubordinate, etc. — the prefix 'in-' means 'not'?"

-"BB"-

[kmccune]

Have wondered about that myself.

[Joe Guy]

Inflammable can be used because the root word is inflame. Flammable means the same thing because the root word is flame.

It's not that complicated.

[Long Run]

Did you just flame them? They might get inflamed if so.

[kmccune]

Rather tautomer ,wouldn't you say ?

[rubato]

I am guessing it was more than just one fart. Read the story carefully. The fire started when the laser was first tuned on--the ignition source. There may ave been several farts before this happened. The actual burning gas may have been a small amount, but it then ignited the 'drape' cloths around the area they were working on and that was the cause of most of the body burns. The fire certainly demonstrates that yes, there were flammable materials present. Or perhaps these Japanese investigators have discovered a new class of materials that will burn but are still non-flammable.

snailgate

So you are saying it was a fart storm followed by lighting?


yrs,
rubato

[kmccune]

Hurricane "Gussie " perhaps ?

[oldr_n_wsr]

to whether it is possible to light a fart, saving countless generations from the embarrassment of pubic depilation by accidental use of smoking materials.

I thought lighting farts was a right of passage?