he was definitely on the cutting edge.

Probably had a hard time explaining the issue when going through airport security...

Finally got rid of that stabbing pain....

Does this mean he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer? Or just a sharp thinker?

Boy, there's some cutting humor here today.

He was always hard headed, but he finally got the point.

Yes that was some cutting humor!

We do the same things here, whether or not you want to get past your ignorance to realize it.

I have rocks and glass in my scalp, arm, and parts of my abdomen from a car accident. I nearly died being operated on post-trauma, and as a result, the surgeons did the best they could to clean out my wounds and lacerations, but ultimately closed me up before my nervous system shut down.

One such particulate was lodged in my skull nearly reaching my brain. It had not been removed because until a fracture in my skull was satisfactorily healed, the only thing holding my skull together was the rock that I wanted so desperately to be removed. I waited for 2 & 1/2 years for that surgery to occur.

Don't come on here and post crap without at least doing a tiny amount of research.

Oh and FYI, the doctors allowed the knife to remain because the man was concerned about the dangers of surgery...just like when a bullet is too close to a heart to safely extract it.

Every few years, a random sliver of glass pops out of my husband’s skin from a car accident he was in 15 years ago. In his case, there was no easy way to remove all of the shards at the time, nor were they going to cause any serious issues.

Does brazil have national health care? Quite a waiting period for surgery.

Gosh, I wasn't aware of the newsvine rule that you can't post crap without doing research first. That would eliminate about 99% of the posts.

Waiting until you heal is one thing, being afraid you might do more harm, which apparently wasn't true in this man's case, is a direct result of not having the quality of surgeons we have in the US today. My point is that if we keep destroying our system of healthcare we will have more situations like this since more doctors are leaving the practice and future doctors may decide it's just not worth spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for their education, and many years of training to enter the system we are creating.

I'll forgive your personal attacks on my "ignorant crap" and chalk it up to the rocks in your head.

o'really-1470447

Thank goodness he wasn't in the US since we have such horrible healthcare. Maybe someday we can reach the point where doctors leave knives in people's heads for three years.

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No O'really,....The surgeons just wanted to wait a little while before they could take another stab at it!

Gosh, I wasn't aware of the newsvine rule that you can't post crap without doing research first. That would eliminate about 99% of the posts.

Wow, what a titillating defense of ignorance. At least you're not evading the fact that you had done no research, whatsoever.

being afraid you might do more harm, which apparently wasn't true in this man's case

That was, AS A MATTER OF FACT, the reason why they did not do so in the first place. It is EXACTLY the reason why the patient objected initially. He only decided to commit to the procedure after he decided that his quality of life is important enough to risk further brain damage. The artifact did not cause hemorrhaging or an infection, which the doctors closely monitored it for, and obviously, never found any evidence of.

quality of surgeons we have in the US today

How did you come to the conclusion that their surgeons are lower quality?! As a matter of fact, many South American surgeons are of equal or better quality than North American surgeons, as they have a great deal more experience with trauma than our surgeons do here in America. They are also taught in many occasions at public universities that maintain rigorous med school programs. The lacking part in Brazil's healthcare infrastructure is facilities.

Further, most places in the U.S. have available to them only the worst of healthcare in developed nations.

As a specific example, I can say that (unless you live in the intermountain west) the healthcare available to me and all of the inhabitants of the intermountain west mostly makes yours practically third world. Here's why:

• Intermountain Healthcare (IHC) is a not for profit healthcare system (close to universal healthcare) serving all of Utah and southeastern Idaho. It's members pay far less than the average of the nation for healthcare, and enjoy lower mortality rates and a higher quality of life. They have better facilities and services than most people in the entire world. The IHC hospital network is opulent in comparison to even the finest in the world, with highly developed electronic networks (doctors treat patients and update records in real-time, surgeons can supervise or perform surgeries from hundreds of miles away, and trauma staff can treat patients en route to the hospital via ambulance or life flight), extremely high availability for advanced treatment devices (such as one of the largest and most advanced hyperbaric treatment chambers in the world, staffed by one of the best hyperbaric treatment teams in the world), fully automated check-in machines akin to ATMs, electronic 24 hour pharmacies that deliver medicine through the facility to both patients and hospital staff (increasing quality and speed of treatment when doctors need emergency medicines) rather than having a central pharmacy that patients and staff must go to. The hospitals are also a great deal larger, which affords every patient privacy and long term patients rooms with sleeping accommodations for family members. The President has taken specific notice of this system, as has the New York Times in an exhausting read about how IHC is the standard-bearer for the nation in treatment effectiveness: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/magazine/08Healthcare-t.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1. Even more, IHC administered health plans are based upon regular screening for and pre-treatment illness rather than post-emergency treatment, with a heavy influence on lifestyle management, heavily reducing the cost of treatment. As a system, IHC collects less money from members, reduces the cost of care substantially by studying effectiveness, pays their staff more because of cost savings, has better and more facilities due to low overhead, and can even provide free healthcare to those who need it because profits don't go to investors (as there are none), rather they go to a private trust that is intended to extend health care to those in need. IHC effectively proves that universal healthcare is the best option, because costs are best contained when the provider is not for profit and serves everyone.
• The University of Utah healthcare system is a network of hospitals and clinics that serves most of the western United States and is internationally recognized as one of the best research and healthcare systems in the world. It also maintains several specialty hospitals on the University of Utah campus such as the Huntsman Cancer Institute (widely regarded as one of the best cancer hospitals in the nation), the Moran Eye Center, and many others. The U of U system partners with IHC to provide services, as both are non-profit. The U of U system is of course part of the Utah State System of Higher Education, a division of the Utah State Government...aka, that dirty and nasty little thing you republicans call (gasp) UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE (OMG!!!).

So as you can see, even if you were accurate about why they left the knife in, in all likelihood, medical treatment for you is probably at the same level of quality or lower than that which he received.

My point is that if we keep destroying our system of healthcare we will have more situations like this since more doctors are leaving the practice and future doctors may decide it's just not worth spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for their education, and many years of training to enter the system we are creating.

I work for the world's largest benefits administration organization, and I can assure you that private healthcare is what is ruining this nation's healthcare system, not public. Public healthcare, as evidenced above, provides better wages for health staff, better quality of care for patients, lower administration costs, greater efficiency, more treatment availability, better preventative care, higher quality facilities, higher quality and better access to technology, better research (with more developments making it to market, due to public ownership of that research), lower medication costs, and the list goes on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on.

Point blank...when healthcare isn't offered at the expense of profits to investors, it becomes premium healthcare. It is merely that other nations do not have as well organized healthcare systems as we do that their universal healthcare programs have negative impacts.

Oh and FYI...if we had universal education, doctors wouldn't have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on their education and as a matter of fact, few do. If an MD student attends a medical school in their own state, their costs are drastically lowered, usually costing only around $50,000 for all four years of medical school. This cost, typically offset mostly or completely by FAFSA programs. So yes, in most cases, WE are making the investment.

I'll forgive your personal attacks on my "ignorant crap" and chalk it up to the rocks in your head.

I'll forgive your total lack of research or credibility and chalk it up to the hypnotizing tea party chants that seem to be fogging your mind.

That is true and the main message is "the pub is not a good place to visit"..specially young man...

What's worse, spending 3 years with a knife in your head, or 2 hours watching Chronicles of Riddick? I'll take the knife.

No, I think you misunderstand. After the barfight, when he was initially stabbed, they removed the handle but left the blade for fear that removal would cause brain-damage.

3 Years later and over 100 million pills of Tylenol to staunch the headaches, they decided to remove the blade as well.

lonewarder...do you know anything about the intricacies of brain surgery or surgery in general? It is very common to leave particulates in a person if the doctor believes there is a danger in removing it or if the material is spread around a large region and would cause too much trauma to remove in a long surgery or if the material in question poses, in general, less of a threat to the person than the surgery itself.

You are so full of crap. It sounds like your doctor wasn't any better than this man's third-world 'physicians'. Left a rock in your brain for 2 1/2 years, yeah right. Tell us another one.

You're not even capable of replying to the right thread, so let's not get to thinking that you're any bastion of intelligence.

And yes, the rock was left in my skull because the pressure on my brain would have increase if my skull had been relaxed and, I would have suffered brain damage. Allowing my skull to fuse the way it was then organized over a period of time was the safest option.

Oh, and FYI...it wasn't in my brain, it was in my skull. Try a reading comprehension class...it should help.

I agree with you. A lot of people aren't aware that oftentimes it is more feasible to leave a foreign object in place than attempting to remove it for the safety of the individual. My uncle has had a bullet lodged in his back for almost twenty years. Doctors advised him that the bullet is lodged very close to his spine and attempting to remove it could result in paralysis. So he opted not to have the surgery. When people speak out of ignorance they show their true level of intelligence and understanding.