Doctor uses power drill to save boy's life

MELBOURNE - A 13-year-old boy owes his life to a country doctor who used a household drill to bore a hole into his skull following a bicycle accident.

Nicholas Rossi had fallen of his bike and hit his head on the pavement.

At the district hospital local GP Rob Carson recognised the symptoms of bleeding on the brain and realised he had only minutes to drill a hole to relieve the pressure on the boy's brain.

He obtained a household drill from a maintenance room since the hospital was not equipped with neurological drills.

He was talked through the procedure by over the telephone by Melbourne neurosurgeon David Wallace.

Nicholas was airlifted to Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital an hour later and released yesterday.

- AAP