PBS Reporter Loses Forearm

PBS science correspondent Miles O'Brien announced Tuesday that he had his left forearm amputated in emergency surgery this month after a freak accident while packing equipment. The terrifying series of events leading to the amputation began with a storage case falling on his arm, leading to soreness and swelling, which he left alone thinking it would heal on its own. However, over the next two days, the swelling and soreness transformed into a condition known as acute compartment syndrome, in which blood flow is constricted by an increase in pressure in one part of the body. When he went in for a surgery to fix it, his condition worsened, leading to the doctor making a real-time decision to amputate the arm from just above the elbow.