A New Zealander, who had two of his fingers cut off in an accident, initially opted to live without the fingers so he could continue smoking, New Zealand media reported Tuesday.
The heavy smoker in his 30s chose to abandon his fingers after being told by doctors that he would have to stop smoking before the surgery to sew the fingers back on successfully.
However, the doctors persuaded him to quit smoking, and he underwent the 20-hour-long operation to reattach his fingers, reports said. He had smoked since he was 11 years old.
According to the reports, the 38-year-old man had his left ring and little fingers amputated on Oct. 4, while chopping off the legs of pigs with a cutter at a meat factory in Waikato.
The man was moved to a nearby hospital. Doctors, while making preparations for surgery, advised him to stop smoking to ensure the success of the operation. However, he asked the doctors not to operate, saying that he could not quit smoking.
He finally changed his mind. He was quoted as saying: “Initially, I asked the doctors to abandon surgery three times. But they did not step back and said they hoped I would not abandon my fingers. Finally, I changed my mind.”
jckim@koreatimes.co.kr