In a desperate bid to keep collecting unemployment, an Austrian man reportedly sawed off his own foot — and then cooked it, just to be sure it couldn't be reattached and foil his plan.
Just before he was due for a health check with jobs officials, Hans Url, 56, of Mitterlabill, held his leg to his circular saw and sliced off his foot at the ankle, the Daily Mail reported.
He then tossed his severed foot into an oven to prevent doctors from possibly reattaching in his bizarre bid to remain on unemployment.
"The planning was meticulous," police spokesman Franz Fasching said. "He waited until his wife and his adult son had left the house and he was alone."
Police said they were investigating the case as a possible suicide attempt.
After he hacked off the foot, a profusely bleeding Url was airlifted to a hospital in Graz and almost died en route, according to a hospital spokesman.
"The food was too badly burned to reattach. All we could do was seal the wound," the spokesman told the Mail.
That might not help the 56-year-old stay out of work, though, according to a spokesman for the Austrian Public Employment Service's local job center.
"Even now losing a foot does not automatically mean he will not be able to work," the spokesman, Hermann Gossinger, said.
"We will see what work we can find for him," Gossinger added. "This is a tragic case but it will not help the man."
According to the Daily Mail, Url had been required to come in that day for a medical exam to prove he was not fit for work, after Public Employment Service officials had become suspicious of his claim of a bad back.
Selected Reading: Daily Mail, Mirror, Reuters
