RGGGH doctors reconstruct tendons, reattach severed hands of Chennai woman attacked by son

CHENNAI: In a rare and complex surgery, a team of doctors at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital successfully performed an 8-hour surgery to re-attach the severed wrists of a woman recently.

A resident of Kannagi Nagar, she had lost her husband around eight months ago. She was attacked by her 23-year-old son who held her responsible for his father’s death. He allegedly cut off her wrists with a knife on December 20.

The woman was brought to the hospital by her neighbours and admitted to the Royapettah Government Hospital and later referred to the RGGGH. A team of doctors led by Dr Sukumar, Dr Rashida, and Dr Suja performed the complex surgery to reattach her hands.

The surgery was challenging as her left wrist plate was completely amputated and major veins had suffered complete dissection. Her right wrist was half-cut, a large vein was injured and she had also incurred a fracture. The surgery required precise reattachment of severed veins, arteries, and tendons.

A team of 23 doctors from orthopaedics, plastic surgery and anaesthesia operated on both hands simultaneously for 8 hours, and successfully reattached her wrists. She is currently under observation and recovering well.

Dr E Theranirajan, dean, RGGGH, said: “We performed the complex procedure free, which usually costs about Rs 10 lakh in the private sector. The hospital provides quality healthcare to all its patients.”