Would you cut off one of your limbs to spare your life?

I really don’t know. Sitting around in my living room and watching this kind of thing on t.v. I really wonder. And the only answer I have ever been able to come up with is that when I am faced with that circumstance, that is when I will decide. That will be the only time when I will be able to decide to do it or to not do it. When push comes to shove. That’s when you decide. Not in your living room and not when you’re just hanging around, speculating on things on fluther.

Damn it! This is hard!
Though I think I would rather die there while being in pain instead of cutting off any of my body parts. Except if it were one of my body parts infected and if I don’t cut if off the entire body would be infected, then I would consider cutting that part. You understand where I am going?

@Hypocrisy_Central Is this the story you are thinking of?

@lillycoyote I feel the same way. I saw a documentary on this case, or one similar, and there is just no way I could answer that unless faced with the situation.

@Thesexier Good point about infection. There was a man in the US earlier this year who did just that.

It’s impossible to know until faced with the situation. Sitting here typing doesn’t allow for the intense feelings involved in making such a decision. I’m not sure that everyone could think rationally in that situation either.

@Pied_Pfeffer , that’s so sad:/

If I was convinced there was no other way, yes. But then if I was placed in that situation I may have a different answer. It is nearly impossible to predict your actions in circumstances you have never experienced.

Depends on the death. If I can bail out quickly and painlessly I might.

Yikes! I ponder that (briefly) every time I read one of those awful stories, and I feel as conflicted as @Thesexier. Sitting in a comfortable chair in front of my computer with my steaming cup of coffee, I think—no way, I’d never have the guts or maybe even the presence of mind to saw off a body part. But faced with the necessity—I mean if I knew it to be a necessity—I might do it, though it seems to me the chance of bleeding to death would be as high as dying any other way. At any rate, I pray I never find myself in that position. I’ve always had a fear of losing a limb, and though I’ve had to endure many degrees of physical pain, my maximum threshold for it continues to hover around a shaving nick.

Would I? Yes.
Could I? I am not sure. I hope I would be able to do what was necessary to try and save my life.
The survival instinct can be very strong, I hope that I would be able to do whatever I needed to do.

Yes,I would cut a limb off and believe I could stand the pain.What other choice do I have? I want to get out of there!
I need to get back to tell my mother-in- law that I love her! ;)

It depends what I had to hand … If it were a butter knife I might think twice,, If it were one of my outdoor knives then maybe,, but you just don’t know like has been said.. I just hope I never have to make the choice…. :-/

Yes…of course it would not be easy and I remember seeing the interview of that man and he waited many days before making that decision and I recall the incredible description of the act of him cutting his arm off and obviously it was the right and only decision to make. Yikies!!

Can I ever know what I do in a life and death situation until faced with it? No.

Well as long as it’‘s armless, yeah I believe i’d stump up the courage to.

First of vacation plans for me don’t involve the desert, I can’t stand the heat. But if it did happen I would tie my shirt around my arm as tight as possible and cut of my arm. Considering that the boulder would either be hurting my arm to the point of not caring, or it would have knocked the feeling right out of my arm.

Yes, i would make the attempt, if the correct tools were available.

Years ago, there was this accident out in an open stretch of road, in the west. a tanker semi-tractor turned over. it was loaded with gasoline and a fire was imminent. the driver was pinned underneath the cab, by his left arm. emergency personnel were called, but were a very long distance away. a passerby comes along. he evluates the situation and screams to the truck driver, “if we do not cut your arm off, this truck is going to explode and you will die. i have a saw in my car. do you want me to get it”? the truck yelled yes. his left arm was amputated at the scene and his life was saved.

I cannot honestly say yes or no! I hope to never find out either!

I’ve read Aron Ralston’s book, and would highly recommend it to anyone else interested in the topic of survival. In the book he goes into clear detail about how the accident happened, how he tried frantically to free himself without cutting off of his arm, how he made it through the days and night(s? I don’t remember if it was more than one) being stuck like that, his fears about infection and bleeding out, his final decision to amputate his arm, and ultimately, how he did it. It was extremely interesting to see how his mind leaped back and forth from periods of great panic to almost a numbing calm.

After reading this, I feel pretty confident that I could be able to do this if I was ever in a situation that required me to do so. Of course, one would have to be actually in the situation to truly know, but I think that if all other options were exhausted and my life was on the line, I would see that there was no other choice. My fingers are crossed that I never have to put this to the test.

Sure.

I’d mess it up. Plus , I’d cut down 1/8 of an inch at a time and it would take me a week to get it done.

Well like the Donner party, did they ever thought the would eat people to survive? No. People do things out of desparation and wanting to live that people could not even imagine. I would do things like that as well I think. It depends on how strong your will is to live. I don’t give up easy.

Every day, there are people who cut of their nose to spite their face.

I think I would do it if I absolutely have to, but I really don’t know for sure. I hope I never have to find out.

I don’t know if I’d pass out or what, but I’d rather be alive and missing a limb than dead.

I don’t know if I could do that. Lol, maybe if I was desperate to survive. But what if you cut your arm off freed yourself then a large animal like a bear or a mountain lion was attracted by the scent of your blood then attacked and killed you. Now that would suck.

Yes.

I expect that I would die in that situations. I had a very difficult giving myself injections of blood thinner.

I feel like I’d just wait. I don’t think I’d have it in me to cut off my arm, nor would it be very practical. Would I even survive it? How far would I even get before I bled out anyway? Someone would have to come by eventually. I’d certainly wait longer than 9 hours! Geez. I also would never go on a dangerous hike alone, so there you go.

@le_inferno It was more than 9 hours. It was 127. Whoa. But yeah, not hiking alone in desolate areas is probably the best advice.

Turns out, a movie is being made about this story.

I would probably just bleed to death anyway, if I tried to do that.

@Mom2BDec2010 But what if you cut your arm off freed yourself then a large animal like a bear or a mountain lion was attracted by the scent of your blood then attacked and killed you. Now that would suck. What would suck is if freeing yourself caused the attack indirectly and then you had taken away a major part of defending yourself or escapting the bear or mountain lion. It is hard enough to climb to safety with one arm pain or not.