Doctor's License Revoked Over Odd Amputation

A rural Missouri doctor has lost his license after cutting off a patient's toe in a pretty makeshift manner, the Springfield News-Leader reports. The Missouri State Board of Registration for the Healing Arts accused John Ure of removing a patient's gangrenous toe on the back porch of his office in May 2016. The board said Ure conducted the procedure in a "non-sterile environment"—the porch is also a machine shed lacking an examination table or running water—and said the patient's records showed no sign of antibiotics being used. The AP reports that the board also accused him of wrongly prescribing painkillers to two patients.

Ure took bended knee, saying the amputation was "not done optimally" and he suffered a "lapse in judgment." He also offered to make corrective actions and had people attest to his character, but in June the board revoked his physician and surgeon license. Ure, 73, later called it a "travesty of justice" and said he did the procedure for a friend who was afraid of having his toe treated at a hospital. "This toe amputation ... everything was absolutely perfectly sterile, out in the bright sunshine and fresh air," he said. Ure, who practices in Deepwater—roughly halfway between Kansas City and Springfield—can apply for reinstatement in two years. (More amputation stories.)