23 August, 2016. 17:20
CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
NSW Premier Mike Baird has become the first person to ever fracture a vertebra without even having a spine after falling down a set of stairs at his home on Saturday night.
Mr Baird said he was facing a “slowish recovery” but would not need surgery.
A scan on Monday revealed the extent of the injury, with surgeons gasping at this landmark case.
Dr Charlie Keo, a renowned orthopedic surgeon says Mr Baird’s fracture was the first of its kind – and that he hadn’t seen anything like it in a twenty year career.
“What we found was, although Mr Baird is put together like any other man, he completely lacks a spine,”
“The spinal column has all the right parts, but they just sit their unjoined – he’s lucky he’s never had to work outdoors before, because one of these things could slip out like a tazo”
Dr Keo says prior to the fall, there is a good chance their was a fair amount of stress felt by Baird’s verterbra after years of devout religious practice.
“His lack of spine was becoming more and more of an issue. Especially when it came to cutting ribbons and shaking greasy hands – his religious obligations would not have helped things either”
“He’s spent a bit too much time bent over, whether it was for his friends in the Church or his friends in the construction industry – this fall has really exposed his spinlessness”
“We are just lucky that the paramedics were so responsive, especially given the way he has treated them over the last month,”
The Premier’s office said some upcoming engagements would need to be cancelled, but the injury was not serious enough to prevent his attendance at Parliament this week, as he pushes forward with fines of greater than $5K per day if NSW paramedics go ahead with their planned industrial protest.
