Man's skull put back together
| Monday, Jun 29 2009 05:27 PM
Last Updated Monday, Jun 29 2009 05:29 PM
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Felix Adamo/ The Californian Dr. Vipul Dev with patient Lee Lyle who had a portion of his skull stored inside his body until Dev and Memorial Hospital stepped forward to complete the surgery
Felix Adamo/ The Californian Tabitha Lyle watches as her father-in-law, Lee Lyle, thanks the doctors and Memorial Hospital for finishing the surgery on his skull.
Lee Lyle beamed Monday as his surgeon explained that Lyle was doing fine three days after a piece of his skull was removed from his stomach and put back in his head.
"The surgery went completely complication free. It went exactly as expected," said Dr. Vipul Dev, a plastic reconstruction surgeon and medical director of Bakersfield Memorial Hospital's Center for Wound Care & Hyperbarics.
Lyle suffered a brain injury last year after his motorcycle was hit by a truck that fled the scene after the accident. He was wearing a helmet, but his brain was bleeding and swelling after he flew head-first into a curb.
Doctors at Kern Medical Center removed part of Lyle's skull to deal with the swelling, and inserted the bone in his abdomen to preserve it while Lyle's head healed. Nestled in abdominal fat, the bone could continue to get a blood supply and was protected from infection.
The plan was to retrieve the bone after Lyle healed, but he didn't have insurance, and Kern Medical Center declined to complete the process barring some form of payment.
Kern Medical Center would have been happy to assist Lyle "a long time ago" if he had applied for MediCal, but he refused, said KMC Chief Executive Officer Paul Hensler.
"We can't give away care to everyone just because we're a county hospital," Hensler said. "We have an obligation to taxpayers to see if patients have other coverage."
Lyle said he applied for MediCal, as well as Social Security, but was turned down for both.
In the year since the accident, Lyle said he's been unable to work. He said his concave head was too great a liability for employers, who feared what would happen if he bumped the portion of his brain protected only by skin.
On Friday, Bakersfield Memorial Hospital did the surgery for free. It would have cost at least $50,000 if he had paid for it.
"We are a faith-based hospital, and this is part of our mission," Bakersfield Memorial Chief Executive Officer Jon Van Boening said at a press conference Monday. Lyle, who had come in for a check-up, was at his side.
Lyle patted his heavily bandaged head, thanked the hospital profusely and announced, "Humpty Dumpty is put back together again."
Nearby, his daughter-in-law, Tabitha Lyle, smiled and wept.
"It's so nice to have him home with a nice, round head up there," she said, lips trembling.
