Australian doctor uses household drill to save boy

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - A doctor in rural Australia has used a handyman’s power drill to save the life of a boy with a severe head injury.
   
Nicholas Rossi fell off his bike on Friday, hitting his head on the pavement. By the time he got to the hospital, the boy was slipping in and out of consciousness.
   
Dr. Rob Carson recognized the boy was experiencing potentially fatal bleeding on the brain and knew he had only minutes to make a hole in the boy’s skull to relieve the pressure.
   
The small hospital had no neurological drills so Carson went to work on Nicholas with a household drill from the maintenance room. A neurosurgeon talked him through the procedure over the phone. It went well, and Rossi was out of the hospital yesterday in time to celebrate his 13th birthday.
   
The boy’s dad says it was a surreal experience.