brain surgery

This simulator goes far beyond the olden days of the board game "Operation." Last month, for the first time, neurosurgeons rehearsed on a 3-D model of a patient's brain just hours before removing a brain tumor for real.

A faulty fridge can spoil anything—leftover pasta, eggplants, sections of a skull.

A man who had been undergoing brain surgery awoke to the bad news that a large area of his skull, removed and placed in cold storage while surgeons operated, had to be jettisoned because it wasn't stored in chilly enough conditions. Instead, doctors affixed a plastic prosthesis, which the man claims has been giving him headaches and making him strangely sensitive to the weather.

He sued the hospital for $27,000, but a court yesterday rewarded him only $4,100. Apparently, experts concluded that the plastic cap was actually better than the spoiled skull—the problems he'd been experienced probably resulted from the way it was attached. Either way, the lesson here is clear. If you're going to put part of your head in the fridge, first make sure the appliance is working properly.—Gregory Mone

Via Reuters