One Show doc performs emergency amputation

Dr James Hickman, who recently appeared on the BBC One Show following the M5 Bonfire crash was called to an incident in Langport today, where a male patient was trapped, with his arm crushed inside some machinery.

Despite valiant efforts by the Fire and Rescue Service to free the patient, it became clear that this would not be achievable within a reasonable timescale and the patient's forearm was trapped and crushed beyond salvation.

Working with the crew of the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance, Dr Hickman performed on-scene surgery to amputate the crushed portion of the patient's arm. He then flew with him, in the air ambulance, to Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton where a surgical team was already on standby and the patient went straight to the operating theatre for further surgery.