9 Badasses Who Performed Surgery On Themselves

7. Apendectomy And Hernia Repair - Dr Evan O’Neill Kane

Dr. Evan O’Neill Kane had a point to prove, and that was that general anesthesia was largely unnecessary for many smaller operations. Putting someone completely under always carries a much higher risk of death, so there was a great deal to be gained from this kind of insight.

To really hammer his point home, and perhaps because volunteers to be sliced open without general anesthesia were not exactly forthcoming, Kane performed an appendectomy on himself, using a mirror and a local anesthetic. Despite having three doctors in the room as emergency back up, he managed the entire procedure himself.

Then, at the age of 70, he performed his own repair an inguinal hernia, which was a much more complicated operation. Despite this, his team of assistants reported that he was so relaxed that he was actually laughing and joking throughout the procedure, even as he sliced close to the femoral artery, and had the whole thing wrapped up in less than two hours.