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Doctor Puts Man's Skull Back Together For Free

Man Had Piece Of Skull In Stomach For 1 Year

POSTED: 12:37 pm PDT June 26, 2009
UPDATED: 5:06 pm PDT June 26, 2009

An Oildale man’s skull was put back together Friday morning after a horrible motorcycle accident left him looking different.

Lee Lyle was severely injured in a motorcycle accident over a year ago in east Bakersfield.

At that time doctors had to remove part of Lyle’s skull and place it in his belly while he recovered because of brain swelling.

Lyle’s family told ABC23 that the bills from Kern Medical Center were skyrocketing and they could not afford to pay and they said that KMC would not finish the work until the hospital bills were caught up, that's when local plastic and reconstructive surgeon, Dr. Vipul Dev stepped in to do the surgery for free.

Lyle said, “I have bills for $280,000 for being taken apart, so what would it cost to be put back together, it's priceless to me.”

The piece of his skull flap was placed in his belly so it could receive blood supply and stay alive, according to Dev.

Earlier this week, Lyle met with Dev to go over the procedure and what to expect during surgery.

Dev said, “This is a common procedure. When an initial surgery is done on someone like Lyle after a motorcycle accident and he has a subdural hematoma, the bone covering the brain is removed to clear out the bleeding inside.”

During the surgery at Memorial Hospital, Dev and his team got to work by putting Lyle’s skull back together.

The bone was taken out of his belly and placed back onto his skull with titanium screws.

Dev said the procedure would’ve cost more than $50,000.

The medical team doesn’t want to be looked at as heroes; they say if you have the ability to help, then you have the responsibility to help.
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