In the 1800s, Scottish surgeon Robert Liston became infamous for a surgery that led to an astonishing 300% mortality rate, losing his patient to infection, accidentally amputating his assistant's fingers, who also died of infection, and slashing a spectator who died from heart attack. While amputating another patient's leg, he broke his personal record by finishing the surgery in two and a half minutes. However, in the interest of speed, he chopped off the patient's testicles along with his leg. He also once mistook a lump in a young boy's neck for a skin tag and removed it suddenly at the boys home. The lump turned out to be an aneurysm of his carotid artery, and the boy died. Keep in mind that in those times there was no anesthesia and that speed and cleanliness were the only skills. Known as "the fastest knife on West End," Robert Liston was particularly skilled at quick amputations. Where most surgeons at that time lost one in four patients, due to his speed and skill, Liston only lost about one in ten.