World Scene: Australia

Drill used to make hole in head

A doctor in rural Australia used a power drill to bore a hole into the skull of a boy with a severe head injury, saving his life.

Nicholas Rossi fell off his bike on Friday in the small Victoria state city of Maryborough, hitting his head on the pavement, his father, Michael, said yesterday. When Rossi got to the hospital, the doctor on duty, Rob Carson, recognized the boy was experiencing potentially fatal bleeding and knew he had only minutes to make a hole in the boy's skull to relieve the pressure.