A GP who amputated a man's arm on a narrow gantry 100 feet up in the air said he ‘was just doing what had to be done'.
Dr James Hickman, a GP in Taunton, Somerset carried out the emergency operation after a man's arm became trapped in machinery at a feed mill on a trading estate in Langport near Bridgwater.
Seventeen firefighters and 14 medical staff attempted to free him but after an hour of attempting to dismantle the machinery, it was decided Dr Hickman - a member of Somerset Accident Voluntary Emergency Service (SAVES) - would amputate the man's arm.
According to local newspaper reports, the man was trapped in a machine with a large screw and the only way to reach him was through a long gantry high up in the mill.
Dr Hickman told Pulse: ‘Quite honestly, I´m a bit embarrassed at the media interest.'
‘It was really just a case of doing what had to be done. It was really team work - working with the ambulance and fire-service. I just happened to be the one that had to do the procedure.'
Dr Hickman hit national headlines last year as he was the first doctor on the scene of the catastrophic M5 crash in November.
