WILL-POWER STAYS THE HAND OF DEATH.....

Supratim Dutta, 23, was on his way to work at HCL in Gurgaon in an office cab. The driver was allegedly speeding and according to the victim’s family, he fell asleep at the wheels.
As the car approached a U-turn near Ghitorni on MG Road, it hit a Metro barricade at full speed. Eyewitnesses said construction material was lying on the road at the spot.
A five-foot iron angle from the construction site rammed into the bonnet of the car, pierced the dashboard and impaled Supratim through his torso.
If Supratim Dutta’s family is to be believed, it was only the 23-year-old’s incredible will power and trust in the almighty that helped him survive the ordeal of being impaled with a five-footlong iron angle. But the young IT specialist’s troubles are not over yet, say doctors.
Seven of his vital organs suffered serious damage in the accident and it will be a few months before he can lead a normal life again. “He is a fighter. Right after the accident, with the angle still inside him, he called his friends and us for help. He did not lose consciousness even once. It was all because of his strong will and urge to live. Tolerating such severe pain for almost two hours is extraordinary. Though the doctors are doing everything to ensure his full recovery, he is still under observation. They are not clear how much time it will take for him to get back to normal,” said Supratim’s father, Sukumar Dutta.
After his surgery, despite being in acute pain, Supratim tried to cheer his family by cracking jokes and inquiring about the media coverage of his accident. “Even when we were all crying, he was laughing. He is a young guy who always worked towards his goals but never forgot to enjoy himself. After the surgery when a doctor asked him how he was feeling, he said, ‘I just have a sore throat,’” said Supratim’s cousin Sandeep Kumar.
Sukumar recalled the time he moved to Delhi from Jamshedpur with his son in 2002. “My wife and daughter joined us in 2004. Though I always knew that my son was brilliant, confident and courageous, his maturity and iron-will is unbelievable,” he said.
Added Sandeep: “For the last few days, he has been smiling despite his agony. He is the most loved among his friends, family and colleagues. Though he had resigned from HCL, the company has been very supportive and is paying for his treatment.” But money is not the only thing Supratim needs right now. “We are trying not to remind him about the accident. We are all waiting for him to recover and cherish the new life he has got,” said Sukumar.

New Delhi: The doctors who performed the ‘‘miracle’’ of saving Supratim Dutta’s life had never seen such a case. The 23-year-old executive was brought to the AIIMS trauma centre with a five-foot-long iron angle, weighing 6 kg, pierced right through his chest. The case posed challenges from the beginning and was delicate right till the end. But the surgeons were equal to the task.
‘‘In my 35-year long career, this is the first time I have seen a case like this,’’ said Dr M C Misra, chief of Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre of the AIIMS. The surgery itself took 3 hours, 15 minutes to complete and it took another three hours to begin and wind up the procedure.
The iron angle had pierced through his liver, stomach, spleen, left lung and perforated the upper part of the diaphragm at two places. It came out by breaking the 10th rib of Dutta’s back. ‘‘The iron angle missed the heart by a few millimetres. He is really lucky. Almost all vital organs were damaged. The spleen was badly damaged and we had to take it out. Luckily, Dutta had an extra small spleen which we left inside,’’ said Dr Sushma Sagar, one of the two main surgeons at the operation.
Doctors couldn’t do any of the crucial diagnostic tests on Dutta. ‘‘Time was running out. Anyway, a CT scan was not possible with a five-foot angle stuck across his upper abdomen,’’ said Dr Biplab Mishra, one of the surgeons. Without these, the doctors had to guess the extent of internal damage and organs affected. The biggest challenge in the OT was to anaesthetize Dutta. The angle was so placed that the doctors couldn’t make him lie down. ‘‘Anaesthesia was given with him in a sitting position,” said Dr Chhavi Sawhney, assistant professor, anaesthesia.
Instead of taking the conventional approach—entering through the abdominal cavity or by cutting the breastbone open—the doctors decided to cut Supratim from the left side.
Dr Biplab Mishra said: ‘‘A movement backward or forward would have caused more damage. So we decided to cut him from the side.’’ ‘‘Two things raised the survival chances. First, he was brought to the hospital within two hours and second, no one tried to pull the angle out,’’ said Dr M C Misra.