PBS reporter Miles O’Brien recounts amputation

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― PBS science correspondent Miles O’Brien said Tuesday his left arm was amputated above the elbow after an apparently minor injury put his life in jeopardy.

In a blog post on his personal website Tuesday, which was verified by PBS, O’Brien recounted the Feb. 12 blow to his arm he suffered while on assignment in Asia and the medical emergency that followed.

He was diagnosed with “acute compartment syndrome,” O’Brien said, in which blocked blood flow in an enclosed space in the body can cause life-threatening consequences.

Part of his arm was removed in a choice between “a life and a limb,” O’Brien said, quoting his doctor. He is grateful to be alive, the PBS reporter said.

O’Brien has continued working despite the ordeal, PBS spokeswoman Anne Bell said.

The former CNN science and space correspondent covers science for “PBS NewsHour” and is a correspondent for public TV’s documentary series “Frontline” and the National Science Foundation’s Science Nation online magazine.