NHS facing a 'humanitarian crisis'
NHS facing a 'humanitarian crisis' British Red Cross warns (file picture). iStock

KEY POINTS

  • The 78-year-old woman died after her intestines exploded due to water pressure.
  • Prosecutors are considering wheter they should bring charges against the husband.

A 78-year-old woman died after her elderly husband attempted to treat her constipation by using a pressurised hose.

The incident happened on February 17 at the pair's home in the Caiyriva district of Kocaeli, northwestern Turkey.

According to reports, the 85-year-old husband convinced the woman to allow him to insert a hose into her anus in order to cure her long-standing constipation. He then ran running water into her body but subsequent pressure caused her intestines to explode.

Medics quickly rushed her to Gebze State Hospital but she succumbed to her injuries a short time later. Police detained the man but allowed him to return home after he convinced them he had successfully used the same treatment to cure his own constipation months earlier.

The local prosecutor says it will now consider whether to bring charges against the man.

Unusual and medically dubious cures for constipation are relatively common around the world.

In April last year, doctors in China performed surgery on a middle-aged man after he inserted an eel into his anus to cure his constipation.

Chinese media said doctors described the man's stomach as "inflated like an air balloon" but were able to successfully remove the half-metre fish. Surgeons said the eel had generated "a mess" in his abdominal cavity" and said it had nearly killed him.