Ever since I first heard this story, things just haven't added up.

Yes, the doctor's said that toxins were building up in his arm, but it was 18 hours, you can survive for much longer with gang green and the bunch...

Wouldn't you hold out for a little longer before cutting? He had a fiancee and surviving family members, and he was in his own frigging house, not in some ravine in the middle of nowhere. Surely, this would've been (which it was) the first place they would look.

"12 hours into being stuck" is when he thought about it? Another 6 hours to do it, so that's basically 3/4 of a day. No way you die from infection that quickly, even 2 or 3 days out.

I think the doctors didnt have the heart to tell this guy he didnt have to cut off his arm.

Best of luck to him.

Too bad that dog wasn't a collie. Lassie would have been all over it and he might still have his arm.

"Yes, the doctor's said that toxins were building up in his arm, but it was 18 hours, you can survive for much longer with gang green and the bunch..."

He should have had his laptop with him so he could have looked up "gang green" and survival strategies.

What purpose did you serve with this post? I don't think anyone even could conceive of such an ACCIDENT. My cell phone is always close by, but perhaps, not in reach after being trapped.

Accidents happen. A lot. Mostly when people aren't paying attention. People pay less attention when they are comfortable and in a familiar place. This is why accidents happen more often in the home or on the job than anywhere else.

Based on the above facts, it is ALWAYS advisable to have some way to reach assistance from friends, family members, and/or emergency services.

I don't even go to the bathroom without taking my cell phone with me. Pay attention, and don't get caught with your pants down (or your arm in the furnace).

Not everyone has a cell phone. Idiot.

You assume that just because you have one that everyone has one?

I bet you're one of those people that drive and talk on the cell phone at the same time and think that you're perfectly safe.

Really? Maybe she's out of town on a business trip or they aren't "livin' in sin" as they say.

It doesn't take that long for the tissue of the part of a limb which is distal to the point of crush to begin sloughing tissue because of the toxins-Gangrine takes a bit longer, but what is creating the infection, or toxins, if you will, is that no blood exchange has occurred in the affected limb because no blood can p[ass either into the arm, or out of it. He did the right thing. Could I? I don't know.

We must all thank this AP for an incomplete report again......

I read in another article he was changing the fins on his furnace. So, I get onto a Do-it-yourself website and read how to do that and I still can't figure how he got stuck.

Plus if he had his toolbox there - which I'm presuming that's where he got his saw - didn't he have other tools he could have used to pry his way out? Or did he even try to use the saw to cut the furnace AROUND the hand to try and free it?

Odd...

I'm sure there's some dark conspiracy here. There's probably already a dedicated renegade website with unreleased video and everything. For a $5 donation, they'll even sell you a commemorative tinfoil hat.

flbikerchick - funny.

PPpppbbbbhhhtttt ! ! !

Yeah, right !

Get real there, everyone that knows anything has know for a long time that tinfoil doesn't work anymore. You gotta use lead, cause the new Government thought control satelites will burn right through a tinfoil hat.

He dropped something and reached in to get it back and that's when his arm got stuck. It wasn't part of the maintenance he was attempting to do. Read the article it's there.

Yes, I believe he was 4, 5 days into the ordeal. Now THAT is when you have no other options.

If his arm was pinched/wedged between the furnace, it likely was a compression fracture/injury (i.e. not compound, which involves bone sticking out of skin) and very little risk of infection or septic shock for quite some time.

The cynic in me thinks there's more to this story that's yet to come out. I'll leave it at that.

Actually, you don't need a compound fracture to be in serious trouble. Any injury that cuts off the flow of blood will effectively kill all the tissue that is no longer getting the blood in a very short amount of time. And all you gotta do is throw a piece of steak out on your kitchen counter to see how fast something will begin to rot. And even with a layer of skin to protect you, the human body will do the exact same thing very quickly.

But I still am going to go with most of the posters here, and believe that he did do this pretty quick.

Aron Ralston is the hiker who amputated his arm in 2003. He was stuck with a crushed fore arm for five days before he attempted the amputation.

Who knows what this Metz guy was thinking. Without a doubt he'd have been able to survive the two days it took for people to come to his aid.

@Roberta I'm not even going to ask how he held the knife to amputate his last limb.

He had things cutting into his arm, did any of you actually read the story?

It wasn't there when we read it! The article has changed dramatically since yesterday! Probably trying to answer all of our questions. Half-azz reporting.

I think I would've had an easier time pulling my arm through, and cutting it along the way, the pinched metal rather than cutting it off.

Whatever, this guy did what he thought was best to do.

He didn't have his acetylene torch "handy".

Cuttable?

acetylene torch? ,Mybe it was a gas furnace and he didn't want to "blow" his arm off.

Sawable? LOL

I would attack the furnace before my own arm, but I don't know what kind of furnace it was. Cast iron? Steel? Sheet metal?

What he needed to cut was probably not accessible to him with one of his arms restricted and he was unable to move around to get a good angle.

Well... if they lived in different areas, sometimes you meet someone you love but can't work out all the details of life, job kids whatnot.

The friends, some people keep to themselves so nothing out of the norm.

Nah, I agree, if you have a fiance, you talk to them at least once a day!

This entire story is just weird and suspect.

Cut off his head.

Prothetics for THOSE have been around a long time. Some are even battery operated.

And why would he have his "love organ" out while he was fixing the furnace? And even if it was out, I am pretty sure it would not have reached what ever he dropped behind the furnace.

You can cut through a wallet fairly easily.

Spoken by someone that has never faced a crisis before in his entire life.

He was in his own house. I don't carry my cell phone around all day, every day, every place I go in my own house. If I go up on the roof and no one is home (which I would never do), I think "I'd better take my cell phone with me, I might fall off", but even then it could be shot out of your cell phone holder or pocket (or wherever you carry it) by the force of the fall and you could not crawl to reach it. Not every accident falls into a neat little package where you can get yourself out, sometimes you die.

It takes very little time for an infection to spread from a limb that has the circulation cut off, that's why you don't put a tourniquet around a limb unless you are bleeding to death from an artery.

They stated they had to use something like the "jaws of life" to cut the furnace away from his arm, so a hacksaw probably would not "cut"it.

He stuck his arm through something like slates (slanted), that when he tried to pull it out it actually cut into his arm, no getting out of that.

Infection + toxins can kill you fast . Your heart and other organs can't survive that kind of insult.

regular jones

It's a tool not a toy means~~~Usually if you own a cell phone, and you are a mature adult who isn't dependant upon knowing your friends every thoughts and moves, chances are you do not have it glued to your ear 24/7. (like children do a blankie or favourite toy)

The fact that he went into his basement to do a bit of repair work WITHOUT his cell isn't strange to me at all... I sometimes do not even ANSWER mine. because I know it is there for MY convenience not anyone elses. Now, in this day and age, ignoring a phone freaks people out. That, in my opinion means you have made yourself a slave to technology.

I know cell phones are a wonderful way to save you from catastrophy but do you have to take it EVERYWHERE with you or be called an idiot?

When people get older (like I am) they sometimes get those little things that are on a string for around your neck. They are hooked up to the nearest dispatch where emergency help can be deployed at a moments notice. Along with age, comes paranoia (sometimes) Some would call it common sense, but to be called crazy for not having your cell on you at every emergency is a bit of a stretch.~~~~~~~~Just an opinion.

I have never been in that situation and I am pretty sure I have enough common sense not to get my arm stuck behind a furnace and allow myself into such a situation. However, if I did find myself in such a situation I am pretty sure I would wait more than 12 hours to cut my arm off. I can see if was had a boulder fall on my arm while I was out hiking in the middle of nowhere and was there for 5 days, yeah I would cut it off. But only after 12 hours, in my own basement, knowing I had friends, family, coworkers and a fiance who would come looking for me, I would hope, if they didn't hear from me in a couple of days. 12 hours is no where near long enough for me to consider chopping of my arm.

The guy had damage to his arm and no idea to what extent the damage was. He knew his arm was cut into and that it was swelling and after awhile he was smelling rotting flesh. He spent 12 hours there and no one came looking for him. He spent another 6 hours contemplating cutting off his arm before he actually started doing it. Basically it was late afternoon or evening when he started his project and ended up stuck there all night long.

How do people miss these points if they read th article.

Most of the comments made by people indicate they have no common sense at all, such as calling the guy an idiot for not having a cell phone. He was stuck there for 18 hours which means he was stuck there during night time, so how many friends come knocking on your door in the middle of the night.

Do some thinking. That guy did, he contemplated his options. He wouldn't have tried cutting off his arm if he didn't think he had any other options.

He survived, therefore he has disqualified himself from that distinguished prize, but maybe he can get an dishonorable mention or some other consolation prize for his efforts, because it sure does seem like he tried.

J.B. - you are a pro; he is an amateur. He probably learned from this, the hard way. Not likely he'll get the other arm stuck in the same way

We will award you with the Darwin Award.

You work with the equipment for a living. That guy was doing routine mainenance and dropped something that went where he wasn't working and reached in for it and got stuck.

Furthermore, if you had one of your arms eliminated and your movement was restricted, do you really think you could have gotten out of it?

A video I watched about wearing safety gear for firefighting. It showed one of the firefighters running up and down a ladder with his NOTHING PROTECTING HIS UPPER BODY, HE WAS BARE CHESTED AND FIGHTING A FIRE. A window shattered and he was ingulfed by flames and received 3rd degree burns. His entire upper body is completely scarred.

This firefighter was a 15 year veteran. You'd think he'd know better. He knows better know, after the fact.

Proabably thinking how he was going to "fiancee" a new arm.

If people would just read the article, he explained how he got his arm stuck.