In a medical first, doctors in Israel have successfully reattached a boy’s head after it was decapitated in an accident.
Palestine resident Suleiman Hassan, 12, suffered the decapitation when he was struck by a car while riding his bicycle, doctors say. Although Hassan’s skin kept the head affixed to his body, his spine and skull were completely detached, doctors say. However, following a procedure that took several painstaking hours to complete, Hassan is expected to make a full recovery, says Dr. Ohad Einav.
“We fought for the boy’s life,” says Einav, who notes that more than 70 percent of decapitation victims die “instantly” or en route to the hospital.