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NY Man Loses Entire Arm in Fireworks Accident, Doctors Say They Cannot Reattach

By Paul Napoli

July 5, 2010

A Long Island, NY man who tragically lost his arm in an Independence Day fireworks accident will be forever without the limb.

According to CNN, Eric Smith, 36, hosted a Fourth of July party on Saturday at his Islip Terrace home, complete with fireworks set off in the street. At about 5:45 p.m., as Smith leaned over a 3-foot metal tube to ignite a skyrocket, it shot out of the tube and hit his arm, tearing it off at the shoulder.

Smith was illegally using commercial grade fireworks. The State of New York bans all consumer fireworks and only allows commercial fireworks displays by permit. It is not unheard of for New York residents to smuggle fireworks in from other states, according to the New York Times.

Attendees of the party packed the arm in ice. Emergency workers transported Smith and the arm to Southside Hospital. They later transferred him to Nassau University Medical Center where he was in critical but stable condition and expected to recover.

Shelley Lotenburg, spokesperson for the hospital, told CNN that the facility does not perform limb reattachments.

The New York Daily News reports that doctors could not reattach the arm because the fireworks damaged it beyond repair.

Smith, a former football star at Long Island's Lindenhurst High School and current employee of the Long Island Rail Road, is a husband and the father of two children.

Smith's coworker told The New York Daily News that Smith lit the fuse and, 'Boom! Boom! He was lying in the street.'

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) estimates that in 2008 about 7,000 people sought treatment in hospital emergency rooms for injuries associated with fireworks. More than half the injuries were burns and most of the injuries involved the hands, eyes and legs.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Napoli

Full post as published by New York City Personal Injury Lawyer on July 05, 2010 (boomark / email).