Doctors removed a screwdriver from a man’s rectum after he pushed it inside himself and left it in his anal cavity for a week, according to an article in a National Institutes of Health publication aimed at warning the medical profession about such incidents.
“The patient recovered and was discharged to Behavioral Health for inpatient treatment of his psychiatric disorders,” the authors, led by Dr. Youssef Shaban, wrote in a report for Annals of Medicine & Surgery.
The 46-year-old unnamed man arrived at Kendall Regional Medical Center in Miami in life-threatening septic shock. The man, who also suffers from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, complained about abdominal and pelvic pain at the hospital.
Measured at 8.2 inches long and 1.1 inches wide, the screwdriver, which had pierced the man’s large intestine, was discovered by CT scan.
In the report, the authors stated: “The earliest reported cases of anorectal trauma due to foreign body (FB) insertion date back to the 1500s. Since then there have been astonishing accounts of various objects being inserted into the anus described in the literature. Objects documented include lightbulbs, sex toys, toothbrushes, drugs, cell phones, fruits, vegetables, and in one incidence a frozen pig’s tail.”
The report stressed that medical staff should maintain an open mind when evaluating patients with lower stomach or rectal pain because they “may not be forthcoming with information” because of embarrassment or a psychological condition.
