Tipsheet

What Drives People to Want to Be Amputees?

All right, this is a disorder I have never heard of.

Karl said his obsession with losing a limb did not end with his double amputation. But he said he finally lost his desire to also remove his left hand after an intense regime of therapy and anti-depressants.

For a man remarkably at home in his wheelchair, there is a hint of regret. There are places the wheelchair can't take him, like to the beach to feel the sand under his feet.

"It's all those little things, like that," Karl said. "What the hell was I thinking?"