BURN DOCT0R TELLS OF STUDENT’S ‘CRUCIFIXION’

Teen’s surgery agony after chem experiment

A Manhattan high school student who was accidentally engulfed in flames in a chemistry class required 38 pounds of fluid and had a 50% chance of dying, a burn center surgeon testified Monday, comparing part of the treatment process to a “crucifixion.”

Dr. Roger Yurt gave a Manhattan Supreme Court jury a graphic, highly detailed description of the extensive skin graft procedures that were performed on former Beacon School student Alonzo Yanes that affected roughly half his body. His parents sued the city, the Education Department and the teacher for $27 million.

“We knew that Alonzo was going to need at least four or five operations, possibly even more,” Yurt, of New YorkPresbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell, said. “He had deep second- and third-degree burns on his face.”

Yanes was set on fire at the prestigious Beacon School in 2014 when his teacher, Anna Poole, was conducting a “rainbow experiment” demonstrating how different mineral salts produce multicolored flames when burned. The teacher poured a 1-gallon jug of methanol onto hot petri dishes, creating a fireball that set Yanes on fire.

Yanes was burned on roughly 30% of his body, mostly on his face, hands and arms. Roughly 20% of his healthy skin was used for grafts, Yurt testified. He showed photos of Yanes after he was burned, when doctors weren’t sure he would survive.

Most of his face was severely burned and his ears were destroyed. One photo showed Yanes after his hair had been shaved and the skin of his scalp had been removed for grafts on his face. Another showed him in customized plastic restraints that prevented Yanes from causing the grafts on his shoulders and arms to move.

“This is like a crucifixion, in a way,” Yurt said. Yanes was immobile for a minimum of five days as the grafts connected to his tissue.

“There’s a lot of discomfort. You tend to get cramps. You really have this urge to be able to move your joints,” Yurt said. Yanes’ pain level was listed in medical reports as 10, the top of the scale.

Yanes, now 21, has lost his sense of touch. His body’s ability to regulate its temperature is severely damaged because his sweat glands were burned, Yurt said.

Attorney Ben Rubinowitz said Yanes, who is expected to testify, has become socially isolated.