I had a call about 15 years ago. A construction worker was working on scaffolding about 20 feet above a crew that was beginning to build a cinder block wall. There was 1 layer of cinder blocks in place and 3/4 inch re-bar protruding about 5 feet upward. the worker slipped and fell from the scaffolding onto the re-bar. The re-bar entered in the crease between the upper leg and the left butt cheek. As he was continuing downward he was also falling backwards. the re-bar amazingly bent several times and wove through his pelvis, abdomen, thoracic cavity and exited through his sternum.

I was on our ladder truck and was the first to reach the patient. As I approached him he was lying on his back with his butt about a foot above the cinder blocks and he was grasping onto the re-bar protruding from his chest. He looked right into my eye's and asked me if he was going to die. I said "not if we can help it". I did figure this guy was not going to live. We assessed the situation as fast as we could and got every possible tool to figure out how to handle this situation the best. Bolt Cutters were too small, The Torch was too hot, The Cutters would cause the re-bar to twist. I yelled into the crowd of construction workers and asked if anybody had a Sawzall? About 30 seconds later we had a Sawzall and all we needed was some soapy water to cool and loosen the cut. Re-bar is very soft and the Sawzall ate right through it. Very little vibration and no twisting or jerking. We then removed the pad from the gurney and placed the patient on it so the bar would stick down through the bed. We then packed all around his body for support. We left the bed in the folded load position so there would not be a conflict with the re-bar sticking downward. 

The patient spent 12 hours in surgery and lived. The surgeon opened him up from entrance to exit, broke his pelvis and used some sort of surgical laser cutter to cut the re-bar into little pieces. We were told that the re-bar only punctured his lower intestine one time and pushed his descending aorta out of the way instead of cutting it.