Doctor has mental scar from injury

A GOLD Coast medical professional who spends his working life with trauma cases has revealed how dealing with shark attack victims has had an impact on his own fears.

In a new CSIRO book titled Shark Attacks: Myths, Misunderstandings and Human Fear by Brisbane marine biologist Blake Chapman, Gold Coast University Hospital vascular surgeon William Butcher tells of a case in which a patient was flown in by helicopter with a leg wound he describes as “absolutely lethal’’.

“The shark’s jaw must have been at least 18 inches across; it would have been a massive animal,’’ he tells Dr Chapman in the book.

Dr Chapman told the Bulletin the patient, who had been placed in an induced coma and given blood on the flight, was attacked by a shark in northern NSW waters in 2015.

Dr Butcher says “even though we had such a good outcome for this patient, I was still affected by it”.

“In terms of the effect on me, it’s unlikely I will ever swim in the sea again, just from seeing that one shark attack victim.’’

He and his family used to swim and snorkel in the sea on the Gold Coast.

“But since that case, we haven’t been in the water,’’ Dr Butcher said.