Bert Newton amputation: What is going to happen to his leg?

May 12, 2021 Ava

Bert Newton is recovering in hospital after having his leg amputated in a life-saving operation on Saturday.

And as the TV legend, 82, convalesces at Melbourne‘s Epworth Hospital, he is faced with the unique decision as to what should be done with his amputated limb.

In Australia, a plethora of laws restrict what can be done with human tissue after it has been removed from a living patient.

Disposing of the limb

Amputated limbs are most commonly incinerated as medical waste after surgery in Australia.

All hospitals must abide by strict waste management protocols when disposing of human tissue waste such as an amputated leg.

Cate Woods, Manager of Waste Compliance at NSW Environmental Protection Authority, previously warned about the dire consequences of hospitals failing to follow correct waste disposal protocols.

‘It’s important for organisations to strictly adhere to the requirements around clinical waste, not only to reduce risks to the environment and the community, but also to avoid potentially distressing situations,’ Woods told 9News.

Keeping the limb

The rules surrounding whether or not a patient can keep their amputated limb can depend on hospital regulations.

Some patients may believe it is important to keep their body parts together due to cultural or religious beliefs, and will therefore ask to retain the amputated limb.

Muslim, Maori, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients often request to keep their limbs so they can subsequently be buried with all their body parts in the event of death, according to The Australian and New Zealand Society for Vascular Surgery.

In these cases, the amputated limb is usually transferred to a cemetery to be buried in a grave site requested by the patient. The patient can also elect to have their limb cremated.

The patient will have to pay for the burial and cremation services themselves.

Bert will have to ask permission from the hospital if he wishes to keep his leg; however, doctors can legally refuse.

‘If people aren’t offered the option to keep it, they probably wouldn’t know they could,’ Melissa Noonan, chief executive of Limbs 4 Life, Australia’s peak body for amputees, told the Queensland Times.

Donating the limb for scientific research or transplantation

Bert also may have the option to donate his tissue or bone marrow for research.

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With his consent, Bert’s leg could be transported to a lab and used for medical, therapeutic or scientific purposes.

In some cases, patients can specify how they want their limb to be used, provided that the research is approved by an ethics committee.

Donating the tissue or bone marrow for transplant

Patients in Australia are sometimes afforded the option of donating their tissue or bone marrow to another living patient.

They can either elect to donate to a relative or friend, or donate to an unknown recipient by joining a donor registry.

Bert was suffering from a toe infection prior to his amputation, however, so it seems unlikely he would’ve been given the option to donate his tissue to another living patient.

Selling the limb is not an option

In Australia, it is illegal to sell or trade human organs or tissue in any way.

What happened to Bert Newton?

Entertainment legend Bert Newton was experiencing unbearable pain from his infected toe before doctors amputated his leg on Saturday in a life-saving operation.

The entertainment icon consented to the amputation after spending six weeks at Melbourne’s Epworth Hospital, where his condition had been steadily worsening.

Bert’s wife of 47 years, Patti Newton, told The Daily Telegraph she had ‘never seen anybody in more pain’ than her husband on the morning of his operation.

She added: ‘I just felt he could not go through pain like he was going through for much longer.’

Bert went into surgery at 7.50am on Saturday and Patti learned it had been a success at 3pm. ‘It was a long day and a long wait,’ she said.

Patti, 76, also spoke of her husband’s fighting spirit, saying the grandfather of six agreed to the life-changing surgery because ‘he has so much to live for’.

‘This is not a death sentence,’ she said, adding: ‘He is lucky; he has got family all around him. The grandkids mean the world to him.’

Bert’s toe became infected before Christmas.

The infection was ‘linked to his diabetes’ and was threatening his life, A Current Affair‘s Seb Costello reported on Monday night.

‘Basically he was told last week, ‘You have a couple of months to live, or if you have your leg amputated, you’ll probably have a few years.’ So he agreed to have the leg amputated on Saturday.’

While Bert’s health has been a concern for almost 10 years now, the exact nature of his latest ailment wasn’t made public until Monday.

Patti, who recently broke her ankle, had been pictured visiting her husband in hospital on April 28, accompanied by her daughter, Lauren.

On November 19, she had posted a photo to Instagram of Bert in hospital as he battled a mystery illness, which may have been his toe infection.

‘Bert’s been in hospital [but] all good. He’s got a lot of living to do,’ she wrote in the caption.

However, he seemed to be in better health by Christmas Day, when he joined his family for lunch at a Chinese restaurant at Crown Melbourne.

Patti’s Instagram activity about this time suggests her husband was discharged from hospital for the duration of the holiday period.

Source: Thanks msn.com