A woman lost one of her digits while she simply attempted to return a book to a Florida library.
Barbara Haverly, literally gave the public institution the middle finger, when she tried to return a book and the finger in question was sliced off from the top knuckle up.
At the end of July, Haverly went to to the W.T. Bland Public Library in Mount Dora, Florida to bring back a book, and placed it into the drop box.
The accident occurred when the drop box’s metal door swung back and severed the middle finger of her left hand.
Haverly, a registered nurse, said that she was in “shock at the moment,” as the stub of her finger contained an artery, and it was spraying blood “everywhere.”
A Florida woman ended up permanently disfigured after she returned a library book into the drop box a few weeks ago. https://t.co/2Mit697siE
— FOX 5 Atlanta (@FOX5Atlanta) August 20, 2023
She believes the staff were also in shock, as they continued to check library goers out, instead of helping her.
Thankfully, a man who was waiting to check out a book ran to get her paper towels from the bathroom, and she used her training to preserve the remains of her digit.
“I couldn’t push the swinging door back in, so I told the staff to get my fingertip out and put it in ice,” she told KTVU.
Haverly, who has been patronizing the library for more than three decades, rushed to the hospital with her detached finger, and underwent surgery.
Unfortunately, due to nerve damage, doctors were unable to reattach her fingertip, and had to take off even more because of the way it had been severed.
“More of my finger had to be taken off because it was cut off diagonally,” she explained. “My surgeon said he had to cut straight across to allow skin to grow back.”
Haverly stayed in the hospital for three days and still has two-thirds of her finger left, but said her life has been disrupted after becoming “permanently disfigured.”
Her “very active” lifestyle of yoga, golfing, and visits with her grandchildren are on hold until the skin grows back over her finger stub.
To add insult to the injury, Haverly likely cannot sue to to get her hospital bills covered, as libraries are government owned and any suit she brings forward would be covered under “sovereign immunity.”
The library has since put an “out of order” sign over the drop box in the wake of the incident.