Michelle Pountney and Anthony Dowsley
08 Nov 05
Herald Sun

SURGEONS have reattached the leg of a toddler after it was severed below the knee in an axe attack. A team of 13 medical experts, including six surgeons, at the Royal Children's Hospital operated for more than 8 1/2 hours to attach the limb.

The marathon surgery began at 2.30am, less than an hour after the attack at a Mont Albert house.

Ambulance officers were called to the house at 1.43am where they found the boy, 17 months, and his severed left leg.

A call ahead to the Royal Children's Hospital triggered frantic calls to three plastic surgeons, two orthopedic surgeons, a general surgeon, two anaesthetists and five nurses who rushed back to the hospital to prepare.

At 11am, with the leg attached, the boy went to intensive care where he was last night in a critical but stable condition.

But it will be several days before doctors know whether the complicated surgery was a success.

The 21-year-old mother of the boy allegedly attacked her son with an axe after, neighbours claimed, he cried most of the day and night from the pain of teething.

The mother and son, who cannot be named for legal reasons, moved to Melbourne on Saturday seeking refuge.

It is believed they moved from a Victorian country town to the church-run private care house.

A source said the woman had a history of mental illness and a former partner was released from prison on Friday.

The attack occurred after the teething baby allegedly could not be soothed for most of the day and night.

It is believed the woman took an axe from a backyard shed and repeatedly struck him.

Surgeons who operated on the tot would not discuss the operation, but Sydney plastic surgeon Norman Olbourne, said limb reattachment was one of the most complex.

"It would be up there in the A grade of complexity," Dr Olbourne said.

Surgeons have about four hours to reattach amputated limbs before the limb starts to die.

Neighbours were shocked at the attack's severity.

One said another woman in the house wrestled the axe from the woman and phoned police.

It is believed there were two children aged 10 and 12, and a teen in the house at the time of the attack.

The neighbour said he could not hear the baby's screams over the banging of the axe.

"It's a tragic occurrence no one could expect," he said. "He had been crying and all day they had been trying to soothe him...

"I couldn't hear the baby screaming. All I heard was the banging."

Paramedics and police who attended the scene were shocked.

New father Acting Sgt Andrew Huntington from Box Hill police, said the incident upset him.

"I have an 11-week-old baby myself and this was a bizarre scene to go to," Sgt Huntington said.

"You just have to go there and do your job."

A psychiatric team assessed the woman at Box Hill Hospital.

Police have yet to interview her.

A Department of Human Services spokeswoman said the child was now under its care.

A Children's Court order was taken out to protect the child's identity.

The DHS did not run the care house.