Driver injured in grill gate mishap given new lease of life

CHENNAI: A 29-year-old driver was given a new lease of life by doctors in the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital after his lung was damaged when a portion of the grill gate pierced into his chest while trying to jump over the gate at midnight not wanting to disturb the house-owner for the gate keys.
On May 20, around 12 am, Vetrivel was trying to get out of his owner’s house, but the grill gate was locked. Not wanting to disturb his owner’s family, he tried to jump over the grill gate unsuccessfully.

Vetrivel cried for help but none could rescue him. So fire service personnel were informed. They came and cut the grill using hydraulic cutters leaving the pierced portion of the object inside the patient and rushed him to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, said the doctors at a press conference on Thursday.
“The doctors at the trauma care unit stabilised him. Then, the patient was rushed to the emergency operation theatre around 2 am. CT scan showed that the grill was close to the  major blood vessel of the heart (Aorta) and it had pierced the lower lobe of the left lung,” said Dr A Sivaraman, Head of Cardiothoracic Department.

“The two-hour surgery was challenging because the patient had to be made to lie on his back to give anaesthesia. But since, the grill was there, he could not lie on his back. The grill had gone one feet deep into his chest,” Sivaraman added.

The patient recovering at ICU will be discharged in two days, doctors added. They also said that the fire service personnel did not try to remove the object and brought him to the hospital in the same position, which was a wise thing. If they had tried to remove it, it would have caused more harm to the organs.