"It was an emergency situation," Dr. Zhang Hong said. "I couldn't figure out another way."
What he figured out was a way to save a fellow airline passenger's life in one of the most bizarre and heroic stories you will ever hear about a mid-flight crisis.
According to the South China Morning Post, a man on China Southern Airlines traveling from Guangzhou to New York suffered the medical malady with six hours still remaining on the flight. Zhang identified himself as a doctor and the man's family told him that the passenger - sweating and with a swollen belly - was previously diagnosed with an enlarged prostate.
Zhang diagnosed the man with a blockage, a life-threatening situation.
"He was going into shock and may have suffered a risk to his life if we didn't tend to him urgently," he said.
Now comes the bizarre part. Creating a makeshift procedure using straws, tape and a syringe, Zhang punctured the bladder to release the urine and ease the blockage. When it wasn't enough, the doctor - who by now was being assisted by another physician onboard - used the straws to literally suck the urine out of the man.
You read that correctly.
Zhang used the straws to suck 800 milliliters, or 27 ounces, of urine out of the man, stopping frequently to spit the urine into a wine bottle in an extraordinary effort.
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