{"id":231198,"date":"2025-07-02T05:34:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T05:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/231198\/"},"modified":"2025-07-02T05:34:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T05:34:09","slug":"they-took-shrapnel-out-of-my-heart-a-life-saved-by-ukrainian-ingenuity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/231198\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;They took shrapnel out of my heart&#8221; &#8211; a life saved by Ukrainian ingenuity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">What began as a field tool has now been rolled out across Ukraine, with 3,000 units distributed to hospitals and front-line medics, like Andriy Alban who says he has come to rely on the device. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He often works while under fire, in trenches or makeshift outdoor clinics, and sometimes without local anaesthetic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;My job is to save lives &#8211; bandage wounds and get soldiers evacuated,&#8221; he says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">There has been no official certification of the magnetic extractor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The Ukrainian Health Ministry says medical devices must comply fully with technical regulations. However, in exceptional cases, such as martial law or a state of emergency, the use of uncertified devices is allowed to meet the needs of the military and security forces.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">At the height of war, there&#8217;s no time for red tape, mastermind Oleh explains. &#8220;These devices save lives. If someone thinks my actions are a crime, I&#8217;ll take responsibility. I&#8217;m even prepared to go to jail if it comes to that. But then all the doctors who use these devices should be incarcerated too,&#8221; he adds half jokingly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">David Nott agrees that certification is not a top priority for now and believes the device could prove helpful in other war zones such as Gaza.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;In war, it&#8217;s not really necessary. You only do the things which are important to save lives.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Back in Lviv, Serhiy&#8217;s wife Yulia is just grateful her husband survived his injury.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I just want to praise those people who invented this extractor,&#8221; she says tearfully. &#8220;Thanks to them, my husband is alive.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What began as a field tool has now been rolled out across Ukraine, with 3,000 units distributed to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231199,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[2000,299,657],"class_list":{"0":"post-231198","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-ukraine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114782015505580377","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}