Lead Stories
Thanks to an airport metal detector, an unidentified woman from Regina, Saskatchewan, discovered the source of the abdominal pains that had plagued her since she had stomach surgery in June. The detector beeped even though no metal could be found on her; X rays subsequently revealed that a 12-inch steel surgical retractor had been left inside her by the surgeon. (A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in January estimated that 1,500 items are left inside surgery patients in the U.S. every year.)
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Science on the Edge
In January a bird handler at a cockfight in Zamboanga, Philippines, was killed by a rooster just as he was about to release it into the ring. The bird’s legs were outfitted with razor-sharp steel spikes, which cut into arteries in the man’s groin and thighs, causing him to bleed to death. And a 43-year-old Winchester, Virginia, man died of a gunshot wound shortly after telling his wife he was going to kill their dog because it had bitten him. Police believe that the man was clubbing the animal with a loaded rifle when it discharged, fatally wounding him.
