A U.K. man died of a heart attack after he contracted a septic infection, which he got from biting his nails to the point they bled.
John Gardener, an amateur football referee, was a chronic nail biter who was treated for anxiety in the years before his death, the Mirror reported. Doctors said Gardener bit his nails so much that he lost feeling in his fingers and became immune to the pain.
Gardener, who also had diabetes, became sick with scepticaemia and was admitted to the hospital. But he died from a heart attack two weeks later, a few days after his 40th birthday.
"It was such a tragedy, we're all in shock" Gardener's mother, Jean Gardener, told the Mirror. "I wouldn't want this to happen to anyone else's son- it's just devastating."
Gardener's doctors told the Mirror he always had bad nails.
"John's nails were always in poor condition and they were often bleeding when he came to the doctors," Dr. Daniel Vernon said.
Doctors gave Gardener intravenous antibiotics when he was admitted to the hospital. Eight days after he was admitted, Gardener had surgery to remove the tips of his fingers. For a while it seemed like his condition was slowly improving.
But Gardener passed away after doctors did all they could to save him.
"The passing of John Gardener was really upsetting and shocking for all of the team" Dr. Chye Ng, a hand and orthopaedic surgeon, said according to the Mirror.
Gardener lived with diabetes all of his life. His lower right leg was amputated in 2011 because of ulcers that developed, which is a common occurrence in diabetics.
"I believe John had a difficult life after being diagnosed with diabetes at just 10 months old, and not only this, he had to come to terms with self-injecting himself twice a day," coroner Alan Walsh said according to the Mirror.
"And then he had problems with leg ulcers and problems after surgery because of this."
