Florida man's colon explodes after he sneezed and coughed, causing his intestines to fall out

TW: Graphic details mentioned

When we undergo surgery, we trust doctors to fix what is wrong, and expect them to let us go with the least damage possible. However, accidents can happen, and they are often very graphic. This was the case of a 63-year-old Florida man, who was simply having breakfast with his wife when his bowels 'fell out'. Here's what happened.

He coughed and sneezed at the same time

In April 2024, the man coughed and sneezed at the same time, at the breakfast table. When he recovered, he explains he felt 'a wet sensation' under his shirt, and when he pulled it up, it was enough to have the weakest of us faint. Indeed, several inches of his bowels had fallen out of his stomach. The man had undergone abdominal surgery a few days prior, and his doctors had said the surgical wound was 'well-healed' on this very morning before they removed some of his stitches.

According to the Daily Mail, the man's wife immediately called emergency services. When they arrived, they noticed an 'approximately 3-inch vertical laceration with large amounts of bowel' protruding from it, according to the American Journal of Medical Case Reports. The man was immediately taken to the hospital, where he was operated again and doctors managed to put his bowels back where they belong. After six days in the hospital, he was able to go home and experienced no further complications.

His case is one for the books

This man's horrendous ordeal was reported in the American Journal of Medical Case Reports. Fortunately for the patient, his bowels remained in good condition before being put back inside his body, and he did not lose a lot of blood. Three surgical doctors worked on putting his bowels back inside, and 'inspected the full length of the small bowel and noted no evidence of injury'.

The surgeons closed his injury with one of the strongest types of closures there is: a series of figure-of-eight stitches. This should make sure it doesn't open up again. While these accidents are extremely rare and this man got lucky he made it out, the Journal still advises paramedics to be updated on how to look after exposed bowels before they are put back in. Emergency services should 'control visible bleeding, address gross contamination by rinsing the bowel with sterile saline or sterile water, and cover the exposed bowel with a moist, sterile dressing'.

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Sources used:

Daily Mail: Florida man's colon EXPLODES after coughing and sneezing at the same time in a diner - causing his intestines to fall out of his body

New York Post: Post-surgery patient’s colon falls out of his body following a ‘forceful’ sneeze

American Journal of Medical Case Reports: An Unusual Case of Bowel Evisceration after Sneezing