Angle-grinder injury astonishes A&E staff

The 47-year-old man was flown by rescue helicopter to Wellington Hospital after an angle-grinder kicked back into his chest. Photo/Supplied

Medical staff in Dannevirke are "shocked" after a 47-year-old man walked into the emergency department with an angle-grinder imbedded in his chest.

The local man received the serious injuries when the angle-grinder "kicked back" about mid-day yesterday .

He was driven to the Dannevirke Medical Centre before "astonished" doctors and nurses watched as he simply walked into the emergency department, Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter base manager and pilot Chris Moody said.

He said the man was "extremely lucky" the angle grinder didn't fatally strike any vital organs.

To reduce transfer time and reduce risk of further injury, the local police and fire brigade prepared a street landing site directly in front of the medical centre for an airlift. A short time later the Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter arrived carrying a St John Ambulance intensive care paramedic.

"We pull out all the stops when we have a patient who has suffered as serious an injury as that one," Mr Moody said, referring to landing in the street.

"He could have been driven to the [Dannevirke] airport, but with that thing rattling around inside him it would have taken another half-an-hour, or even longer, to get him to hospital.

"We want to work as quickly as possible. We were in Dannevirke 15 minutes after we got the call and had to wait on the street for about 10 minutes as they got him ready for the flight."

Mr Moody said the 47-year-old was conscious throughout the flight as the intensive care paramedic worked to prevent further injury.

He was "astonished" when medical staff told him the man walked into Dannevirke Medical Centre and said the doctors and nurses working at the time had "quite a shock".

The 47-year-old man was airlifted to Wellington Hospital to undergo emergency specialist surgery. A Wellington Hospital spokesman said the man went straight into theatre and last night was in a stable condition.

Meanwhile, later in the afternoon a 34-year-old Eketahuna man received chain-saw injuries to an arm while tree pruning on a rural property about 3.30pm. The man was airlifted to Palmerston North Hospital in a stable condition.