Man impaled by crowbar survives
PARKTOWN – Daniel de Wet was saved by a medical team at Netcare Milpark Hospital after he was impaled on an industrial crowbar.
A young man who miraculously survived a freak accident in which he was impaled on an industrial crowbar (gwala), walked out of the Netcare Milpark Hospital in Parktown West 19 days later.
Daniel de Wet was flown to Milpark in an emergency flight after the gwala penetreted his body at the mine where he works near Carletonville.
Professor Kenneth Boffard, trauma director of the hospital’s emergency department, said in a Netcare media release he received a call to tell him about the unusual case that was en route to the hospital.
He immediately mobilised an operating team and made the necessary preparations to receive De Wet.
“When De Wet arrived at the hospital, we put him under anaesthetic, lying on his side. We needed to get him into a position that would enable us to operate but with the gwala sticking through his back, it was rather awkward.
“We got some strong paramedics to pull the gwala out by about half a metre so that it was flush with his body. This allowed us to put [De Wet] on his back. Fortunately the gwala had been pressing on the blood vessels and this pressure prevented too much blood loss,” said Boffard.
Once the gwala was pulled completely free of De Wet’s body, the doctors saw that the impalement had caused significant damage, destroying one kidney and damaging the small bowel and numerous blood vessels.
“We operated twice on De Wet. In order to safeguard the patient, given the traumatic nature of his injury, our first operation could not last any longer than 60 minutes. During this procedure, we did massive damage control in order to stem the bleeding and to contain any form of contamination caused by his injury,” explained Boffard.
“During the next, more major procedure, extensive repair work was undertaken.”
De Wet walked out of hospital 19 days later after the traumatic accident.
“Everyone at Milpark Hospital who looked after me was absolutely caring. Prof. Boffard and his wife also gave my wife Lizl a lot of support. We are so very grateful,” said De Wet.
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