Robert Smith
Robert Smith is a Scottish surgeon who came to prominence in 2000 when he applied for permission to perform an amputation on a patient whose limbs were apparently healthy.
Falkirk Royal Infirmary and Abbey King's Park Hospital in Stirling both refused to allow Dr. Smith to carry out amputations on patients he claimed to be suffering from apotemnophilia, a controversial psychiatric condition where sufferers experience extreme mental discomfort due to the presence of a limb they see as unwanted. Prior to the Stirling controversy, Smith had carried out at least two elective ampuations on otherwise healthy individuals.
Smith went on to write the first and, to date, only book uniquely about apotemnophilia, Amputee Identity Disorder: Information, Questions, Answers and Recomendations about Self-Demand Amputation alongside Gregg Furth, the patient whose desire for the opertation had caused the furore in the first place.
See Also
External links
- BBC News 'Healthy' amputation rejected'
- BBC News Search page indexing stories on Smith and the Stirling controversy.
References
- Furth, G. & Smith, R (2000). Amputee Identity Disorder: Information, Questions, Answers and Recomendations about Self-Demand Amputation 1st Books Library : London
