A Californian man tried to operate on himself to fix a protruding hernia with a butter knife and a lit cigarette – his wife found him and called emergency services. Apparently, the 63-year-old man was fed up with his hernia and wanted to sort it out there and then.

Frustrated with his hernia and not wanting to wait any longer for a medical procedure, he plunged the knife into his lower abdomen, his wife told police.

Apparently, he put a lit cigarette into the wound in what appeared to be an attempt to cauterize the wound.

When the police arrived, the handle of the six-inch butter knife was sticking out of his stomach. The man was sitting, naked, sprawled out on a lawn chair.

His wife Lorenz said:

“He actually impaled himself

with the butter knife.”

He was taken to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, where he is expected to undergo a surgical procedure. The injuries were said not to be life-threatening. Staff there said he is on a psychiatric hold.

The man was not cited and no charges are planned against him by the police. As his wife said, he committed no crime and did not threaten anyone.

As he is in the care of the county, the procedure will be performed at the taxpayer’s expense, his wife added.

Surgeons say it is impossible for someone to fix their own hernia.

Written by Christian Nordqvist