When faced with one of the toughest decisions of his life, Jonathan Metz turned to someone – albeit fictional – who always knew how to fix the most difficult problems: MacGyver.
After his arm got stuck in a furnace boiler, Metz, 31, shouted for help for 12 hours, but no help arrived. He could smell the flesh of his crushed arm beginning to rot, so he made the decision to amputate his own arm, thinking he could have it reattached later, he said during a press conference Tuesday.
“It was an instinctual response to an impossible situation,” said the West Hartford, Conn. resident.
For six hours, he contemplated what he was about to do, wondering if “maybe there’s something else. What would MacGyver do if he were here?” he quipped to reporters, referring to the TV action character, at a news conference at St. Francis Hospital, where he underwent surgery.
Full story: Trapped Man Thought of MacGyver Before Amputating His Own Arm : People.com