A patient has been left badly burnt after she farted during surgery and caused a laser to burst into flames.
The unnamed woman, in her 30s, was undergoing surgery at Tokyo Medical University Hospital which involved a laser being applied to her cervix.
But as the operation was being carried out in the Shinjuku Ward she passed wind – sparking a fire, according to Japanese newspaper The Ashai Shimbun.
She was left screaming in agony after the fire burnt most of her body, waist and legs, according to a report into the incident.
The horrifying event happened on April 15 this year at the hospital in the Japanese capital.
It has just come to light this week after a committee of external experts examined the case.
The committee released a report on Saturday that stated no flammable materials were in the operation room during the surgery and that equipment was functioning normally.
It concluded: “When the patient’s intestinal gas leaked into the space of the operation (room), it ignited with the irradiation of the laser, and the burning spread, eventually reaching the surgical drape and causing the fire.”
The Tokyo Medical University Hospital is an acute care facility that claims to be the only facility in Japan to carry out surgery using robots.
The Washington Post explains that it’s the methane and hydrogen in a person’s gas that makes it potentially flammable, though “it’s difficult to overstate how minuscule the chance of that normal bodily function causing a problem truly is.”