History Main / AmputationStopsSpread

** [[BigBadWannabe Shigaraki]]'s own Quirk allows him to gradually disintegrate whatever or whoever he touches with all his fingers. As confirmed near the end of the Overhaul arc, cutting the disintegrated limb is the only way to prevent death. [[spoiler:Much later Re-Destro is forced to amputate his own feet to avoid being turned into dust by Shigaraki's attack.]]

* In ''Film/DeadSnow'', one of the characters lops his own arm off after being bitten by a zombie on said arm. Hilariously, after dispatching the zombie and sawing off his arm, he breathes a sigh of relief, only for another zombie to leap up out of the snow and [[GroinAttack bite him down there]]. Now absolutely infuriated, he delivers a SkywardScream, [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beats the zombie to death]], and then sobs as he looks down at his ruined manhood, before turning to look at the chainsaw...

* In the ''Literature/OldKingdom'' books, this happens twice, first in ''Abhorsen'', when [[spoiler:the Disreputable Dog bites]] off [[spoiler:Lirael]]'s hand to save her from the corruption of the Destroyer and prevent her from having to pull a HeroicSacrifice, then in ''Goldenhand'', when Ferin's otherwise treatable arrow wound is constantly aggravated (the undead are not especially considerate about the need for rest-stops) and a Free Magic talisman inside her gets loose, meaning that while she doesn't get 'the blood poison', her foot starts mutating into something horrible.

* ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'': In the ''Left Behind'' DLC, a series of [[ApocalypticLog logs]] tells the story of a squad of soldiers who crashed in the mall where Ellie and Joel are hiding. One of them had been bitten in the arm by an infected squadmate and had it amputated in an attempt to stop the infection. However, it's left unclear whether this was successful. [[ShootTheShaggyDog In his feverish paranoia, the amputee killed the only other survivor of his squad, tearing open his stitches in the process and leading to his death from blood loss since he couldn't stitch himself back up with one arm]].

* In ''VideoGame/RobinsonsRequiem'', if one of your limbs suffers from gangrene due to not treating an infection, the only way to avoid an agonizing death from poisoning is to cut off the rotten limb.

** Dimo gets stung on the arm by some glowing blob thing and Oggie slices the arm off. The non-[[SuperSoldier Jaegers]] in the group think he's overreacting, [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060719 until the severed limb melts.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/UglyAmericans'': A batboy gets loose in Mark's counseling group and bites Mark and the Two-Headed Worm Guy. After killing it Grimes draws a machete and slices off Worm Guy's bitten hand (which regenerates). Mark (who got bitten on the crotch) pretends that it didn't get him and slowly transforms over the rest of the episode, until it turns out that Doug the Koala Man's saliva acts as an antidote.

* This used to be the only method of stopping gangrene from spreading. Nowadays, the rotting area can often be saved, but amputation is still sometimes required. Especially in the case of Gas Gangrene, which spreads quickly as it destroys muscle tissue.

* Also the recommended course in some cases of advance cancer. In one case the doctors had to [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe remove the entire lower half of a man to save his life.]] However this case of BodyHorror was nothing for the man compared to the cancer. He actually cried in happiness afterwards because it was so painful.
* A less severe but still shocking example of the above happened to former Major League Baseball pitcher Dave Dravecky. In 1989, he came back from having a cancerous tumor removed from his left (pitching) arm the previous year. Sadly, the required treatment weakened his arm to the point that he broke the arm soon after his return. Eventually, the cancer came back, requiring the amputation of his entire left arm and shoulder.[[note]]He would write two books about his journey through this process: ''Comeback'' in 1990, after his comeback to the mound, and ''When You Can't Come Back'' two years later, following the amputation.[[/note]]
* Theoretically this trope could be used to treat a rabies bite. Rabies is unusual in that it travels along nerve fibers instead of the circulatory system, making its spread very slow. This is what allows the rabies vaccine to work even if it's administered after infection, the body has time to develop an immune response before it reaches the central nervous system and becomes almost certainly fatal. Of course with the vaccine available, amputation becomes completely unnecessary, allowing you to keep both life and limb.

* PlayedForLaughs in the ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' sub-comic "Bembo the Bembarian." Faced with the prospect of a quest to kill the dark lord who cursed his arm before the curse takes over his body, Bembo elects to [[https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5207 just chop off the arm]] and have a cleric regenerate it.

* In her backstory, Petrushka from ''Manga/GunslingerGirl'' had a leg amputated due to cancer caused by Chernobyl exposure. She was DrivenToSuicide but [[BungledSuicide survived]] and was turn into a cyborg {{Child Soldier|s}}. The epilogue reveals that she later [[spoiler:died because her cancer came back as leukemia because she wasn't on treatment]].

* Discussed in ''Literature/OneHundredCupboards'', as Mordecai mentions amputation would usually be the best way to deal with [[spoiler:Henry]]'s growing burn from witch's blood. Unfortunately, the burn in question is on his ''face''.

* Parodied in the ''ComicBook/Hitman1993'' story "Zombie Night at the Gotham Aquarium", in which [[DumbMuscle Hacken]] is bitten by a [[RaisingTheSteaks re-animated seal]] and assumes that it will turn him into a Zombie, so he cuts off his hand with a chainsaw. The scientist later tells him that the current zombie formula only works on marine life, and you have to be already dead and directly exposed to it to become a zombie.

Subtrope of LifeOrLimbDecision.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' anime episode #275. Barragan uses his Respira attack against Captain Soifon, causing her arm to disintegrate starting at the fingertips. She orders her lieutenant Omaeda to cut off her arm before the decay reaches her body, and he does so. [[spoiler:Then another character teleports his own decaying arm ''[[TeleFrag into]]'' Barragan, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard killing him with his own power]].]]

* In one of the more infamous scenes from ''Manga/MadeInAbyss'', [[spoiler:Riko has Reg attempt to amputate her arm to stop the spread of a predatory animal's poison]]. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]], in that this likely would not have worked even if the character performing the amputation hadn't been grossly unqualified.

* In her backstory, Petrushka from ''Manga/GunslingerGirl'' had a leg amputeed due to cancer caused by Chernobyl exposure. She was DrivenToSuicide but [[BungledSuicide survived]] and was turn into a cyborg {{Child Soldier|s}}. The epilogue reveals that she later [[spoiler:died because her cancer came back as leukemia because she wasn't on treatment]].
* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': [[BigBadWannabe Shigaraki's]] own Quirk allows him to gradually disintegrate whatever or whoever he touches with all his fingers. As confirmed near the end of the Overhaul arc, cutting the disintegrated limb is the only way to prevent death. [[spoiler: Much later Re-Destro is forced to amputate his own feet to avoid being turned into dust by Shigaraki's attack.]]
** Comes back again in a later arc when [[spoiler: Aizawa gets shot in the leg with a quirk-destroying bullet and stops the drug from erasing Erasure by quickly amputating the limb ''himself''.]]

* In one episode of the ''Manga/{{Ajin}}'' anime has one of the Ajin being shot in the arm with a tranquilizer dart, and immediately chopping that part of the arm off to stop the drug, knowing it will grow back.
* ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'': Sesshomaru's sword Bakusaiga [[MakeThemRot rots]] anything it cuts. The rot spreads and the only way to survive is to cut off the affected parts.

* Parodied in the ''ComicBook/{{Hitman}}'', story "Zombie Night at the Gotham Aquarium", in which [[DumbMuscle Hacken]] is bitten by a re-animated seal and assumes it will turn him into a Zombie so he cuts off his hand with a chainsaw. The scientist later tells him that the current zombie formula only works on marine life, and you have to be already dead and directly exposed to it to become a zombie.
* In ''ComicBook/TheThingFromAnotherWorld: Climate of Fear'', a sequel series to ''Film/{{The Thing|1982}}'', [[spoiler: Agapito]] cuts off his arm with a machete to keep himself from being infected.
* In the story "To kill a werewolf" published in [[Creator/MarvelComics Marvel]]'s ''Vampire Tales'' #1, a werewolf bites the protagonist's arm, which quickly transforms into a canine paw. The doctors amputate it before it can spread to the rest of his body. [[spoiler:It seems to have worked, but many years later he transforms into a werewolf completely anyway.]]

* ''FanFic/ABrighterDark:'' Justified, as when Hans orders his arm amputated, it is already hanging on by a few tendons, and he knows that if he doesn't cleanly finish the job he could be killed by blood loss or infection.
* Used in the ''[[Literature/TheTwilightSaga Twilight]]''/''Series/{{Heroes}}'' crossover "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12045706/1/Dark-Days Dark Days]]" when Victoria and Adam are able to modify the Shanti virus so that it can infect vampires; so long as the vampires are bitten on their extremities, the limbs can be "safely" removed before infection spreads to the brain and becomes irreversible, but one vampire bitten on the ear cannot be treated so easily.

* In ''{{Fanfic/Luminosity}}'', Leah gets bitten on the thumb by a venomous half-vampire baby boy, and Bella has to quickly pinch off the thumb to prevent the venom from making it to the rest of her. Justified; moving at vampire speed, Bella can get the job done in a fraction of a second, and Leah's werewolf HealingFactor means the amputation itself isn't dangerous.
* In the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse fics "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/26203810/ 14,000,606]]” and “[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/23797735/ Survivor’s Guilt]]”, after Peter Parker performs the Snap in Tony Stark’s place during the final battle against Thanos, his healing factor keeps him alive long enough to receive medical help, but to stop the subsequent radiation poisoning from killing him the arm he used to perform the Snap has to be amputated.

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

* In Norwegian zombie movie ''Film/DeadSnow'', one of the characters lops his own arm off after being bitten by a zombie on said arm. Hilariously, after dispatching the zombie and sawing off his arm, he breathes a sigh of relief, only for another zombie to leap up out of the snow and [[GroinAttack bite him down there]]. Now absolutely infuriated, he delivers a SkywardScream, [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beats the zombie to death]], and then sobs as he looks down at his ruined manhood, before turning to look at the chainsaw...
* In ''Film/{{District 9}}'' [[spoiler:Wikus]] attempts to chop his arm off in the hope that it will stop the metamorphosis into a Prawn from spreading, but he only manages to get a finger off and stops due to the pain.
* Why Ash ends up cutting off his possessed hand in ''Film/EvilDead2''. Sadly that doesn't stop the hand.
* In ''Film/{{Evolution|2001}}'', Dr Block finds himself host to an alien fly that is burrowing into his leg. He refuses to let doctors cut off the leg in question until he learns that it's headed for his testicles. [[spoiler:Ultimately, they pull it out of his rectum instead.]]
* ''Film/NineLives1957'', also Norwegian, war hero Jan Baalsrud has to amputate his own toes to stop gangrene to spread through his feet. By the way, he did it all by himself! ''In RealLife''!

* In ''Film/TheTomorrowWar'', When Dan [[spoiler: sticks the toxin in the last female Whitespikes' arm, she rips it off and successfully stops the disintegration. She's finally killed when he shoves the whole vial down her throat, can't cut that off.]]

* In ''Literature/TheClone'', when Dr. Agnew accidentally touches the eponymous creature (which immediately starts [[BodyHorror converting his still-living flesh into its own flesh]]), Harry stops it by cutting his arm off at the elbow. This successfully saves him.

* Discussed in ''Literature/TheCurseOfChalion'' by Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold. The royse Bergon was wounded in the thigh by a leopard's claws, and the wound turned septic when he left it untreated, before it was discovered.
-->"His [Bergon's] rising hysteria [about the amputation] was only calmed when a second physician opined that the infection was not gangrene after all--Cazaril's nose agreed--but rather, blood poisoning, and that amputation would do more harm than good now."
* In the ''Literature/OldKingdom'' books, this happens twice, first in ''Abhorsen'', when [[spoiler: the Disreputable Dog bites]] off [[spoiler: Lirael's]] hand to save her from the corruption of the Destroyer and prevent her from having to pull a HeroicSacrifice, then in ''Goldenhand'', when Ferin's otherwise treatable arrow wound is constantly aggravated (the undead are not especially considerate about the need for rest-stops) and a Free Magic talisman inside her gets loose, meaning that while she doesn't get 'the blood poison', her foot starts mutating into something horrible.
* ''Literature/TheGunsOfNavarone''. One of Major Franklin's legs is broken during the climb up the cliffs and gangrene later sets in. The team leaves him with the Germans and the leg is amputated to prevent the gangrene from spreading to the rest of his body and killing him.
* ''Literature/PrideAndPredjudiceAndZombies'': When a carriage driver is bitten in the leg by a zombie, his leg is cut off in an effort to stop the spread. He ends up dying of blood loss, though.
* In ''Literature/{{Remnants}}'' two of the characters have to have appendages amputated to remove worms that are slowly eating them. One of them is a {{redshirt}}, who bleeds out after his leg is removed. The other is a main character, who only loses a finger.
* ''The Tangled Skein'' pits Literature/SherlockHolmes against Literature/{{Dracula}}, culminating in a final confrontation in [[Literature/TheHoundOfTheBaskervilles Baskerville Hall]]. Sherlock attempts to kill Dracula with a silver bullet, but the bullet only hits Dracula in the hand, and Dracula prevents the silver poisoning him further by cutting the wounded hand off.
* ''Literature/TortallUniverse'': The second book of ''Literature/TheImmortals'' has the mage Gissa, who cuts her own hand off after it gets hit by a drop of the Bloodrain poison potion she was stirring. If she had left it long enough for it to reach her bloodstream it would have rotted her from the inside out; once it reached full strength they were planning on pouring it into the ''river'', killing every living thing within ten miles.
* Discussed in ''Literature/TheZombieSurvivalGuide'', and also averted, as the tract points out that due to the speed of blood flow, the virus will likely spread well past the initial bite before amputation can take place.
* Subverted in ''Literature/TheMonkAndTheViking'' Floki explains that his father died because he refused to have his sword hand amputated after an infection grew gangrenous.

* Discussed in ''Literature/OneHundredCupboards'', as Mordecai mentions amputation would usually be the best way to deal with [[spoiler:Henry's]] growing burn from witch's blood. Unfortunately the burn in question is on his ''face''.

* Attempted in ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'''s second season premiere "[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E1Shadows Shadows]]", when an alien artifact causes an agent's hand, then arm, to slowly start turning to stone. She demands that her arm be amputated in the hopes of stopping the spread, but she is killed by something else a minute or so later anyway. [[spoiler: The season finale has ''Coulson'' be similarly affected; his hand is almost immediately hacked off to stop the spread, and he does indeed survive]].
* Arastoo implores a doctor to cut off his finger when he sticks it on a needle infected with a deadly virus on ''{{Series/Bones}}'', but the doctor immediately tells him it won’t stop the virus’s spread.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E8TheWitchfinders "The Witchfinders"]]: [[spoiler:After Becka Savage got infected with Morax bio-material, she tried to stop it by having her grandmother chop off her leg. However, her grandmother couldn't bring herself to do it.]]
* In an episode of ''Series/RedDwarf'' where Lister is infected with a sentient virus they try to isolate it in one arm and cut that arm off. Lister spends the next episode trying to cope with one arm, and when that fails get a new one.
** In this case, it becomes a subversion as while they cut his arm off, seven percent of the virus managed to retreat back into Lister's body. Effectively, they only managed to buy him 58 minutes more life. [[spoiler: But then, they trick it into transferring to Kochanski through an arm that turns out to be a decoy.]]
* In ''Series/{{Vikings}}'', after being struck with an arrow in his arm, [[spoiler: Torstein]] asks to amputate it because the infection is killing him. Everyone involved, including Torstein, seems to know it's probably too late for this to do any good and the infection continues getting worse afterward. [[spoiler:Eventually Torstein more or less gives himself a SuicideMission so he can at least have a chance of going to Valhalla]].
* In ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' episode "[[Recap/TheWalkingDeadS03E01Seed Seed]]", they attempt this with [[spoiler: Hershel after he is bitten. It works. Later, they have to do the same thing with Tyreese, but he dies from blood loss.]]
* ''Series/TheXFiles'': Amputation is used as a preventative in a small Russian town near an industrial complex where the Purity (aka Black Oil) alien virus is being experimented with. They only want to use completely healthy individuals so if the locals cut off an arm it won't attach to them. They almost cut off Mulder's arm before he escapes, but Krycek isn't so lucky.

* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' card [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=19834 Putrefaction]] presents a medic about to amputate an arm off a somewhat hesitant patient. [[GameplayAndStorySegregation Whether the card's effect replicates the situation is up to you.]]

* In ''VideoGame/FrostPunk'', people affected by mild frostbite can be amputated to stop it if you sign the Radical Treatment law, but are unable to work as a result. However, later on you can give them prosthetics to make them useful again.

* In the ''Left Behind'' DLC of ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'', a series of logs tells the story of a squad of soldiers who crashed in the mall where Ellie and Joel are hiding. One of them had been bitten in the arm by an infected squadmate and had it amputated in an attempt to stop the infection. However, it's left unclear whether this was successful. [[ShootTheShaggyDog In his feverish paranoia the amputee killed the only other survivor of his squad, tearing open his stitches in the process and leading to his death from blood loss since he couldn't stitch himself back up with one arm.]]

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'' has Link's arm get infected with Ganondorf's Gloom, which [[MaximumHPReduction saps his vitality]]. Upon waking up later on, Rauru tells Link that he had to amputate the infected arm or the infection would have killed him. Luckily for Link, he gets a new arm imbued with powers and said arm belonged to Rauru when he was alive.
* ''VideoGame/LordsOfTheFallen'': There is an injured monk that has been bitten by a spider and the venom has already spread too far [[SuckOutThePoison to suck out]] so the monk's only chance of survival is for Harken to (rather stylishly) slice the afflicted arm off. Even then, he won't make it unless you give him a HealingPotion.
* General Randall in ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' hacked off his own arm with a cleaver after being bitten by Elizabeth Greene, fearing that she might have infected him with the Redlight Virus.
* In ''VideoGame/TheQuarry'', amputating any body piece that was injured by [[spoiler:a werewolf or someone merely infected]] will stop the spread of the infection. Bobby can be seen shooting his finger off after [[spoiler:a recently-infected Nick]] bites him, and Dylan can insist on [[spoiler:getting his hand amputated]]. [[spoiler:Laura]] also removed her [[EyeScream slashed eyeball]], which turns out to have saved her from the infection.

* Mentioned in regards to the poison [[HomicideMachines Pluto the Tormentor]] belches into the atmosphere of Blasted Tokyo in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV''. Particularly notable in that ''it doesn't work'' - the poison remains in the infected's system, and amputation doesn't even slow its spread.
* In ''VideoGame/StarcraftIIWingsOfLiberty'' General Warfield takes several hydralisk spines to the arm, if you talk to him afterwards he complains that the medics are having trouble stopping the poison from spreading but won't let him just cut the damn thing off. In the next cutscene he is shown with a large prosthetic arm that features a cannon.

* In ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'',
** In Season One Episode Five, after [[spoiler: Lee]] is bitten he can try this to stop the infection. [[spoiler: It doesn't work; even if you cut his arm off Lee will still die at the end.]]
** Season Two Episode Three introduces Reggie, whose missing arm proves that someone can be saved from a zombie bite if the amputation happens quickly enough. [[spoiler:At the end of the episode, Clem can opt to do this to Sarita, who gets bitten on the wrist during the escape from Carver's compound. Subverted at the start of Episode 4, when she gets mauled by walkers anyway.]]
** In Season 4, [[spoiler:A.J. has to amputate Clem's leg to stop a zombie bite.]]

* ''Webcomic/LastBlood'': The school principal is lightly grazed on the hand. They decide to amputate his whole arm just to be on the safe side. We never get to see if it worked because one vampire decides it's not worth the risk to find out[[note]]Smelling the symptoms of infection on him with vampire senses didn't elicit a vote of confidence either[[/note]].
* A Cerberus-like demon in the ''WebAnimation/SockSeries'' severs one of its heads to avoid getting infected by the parasitic blood of a plant creating god.

* ''WebAnimation/BravestWarriors'': In "Season of the Worm", [[spoiler: Beth cuts Wallow's arm off to prevent him from being humped into another dimension]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': In [[Recap/TheOwlHouseS2E21KingsTide "King's Tide"]], [[spoiler:Eda's detachable limbs from her curse becomes a ChekhovsSkill, as it allows Raine to save her from the interaction of the Draining Spell and curse by ''removing'' the forearm that the Coven Sigil is on, allowing it to crumble away while the rest of Eda remains intact]].
* ''WesternAnimation/UglyAmericans'': A batboy gets loose in Mark's counseling group and bites Mark and the Two-Headed Worm Guy. After killing it Grimes draws a machete and slices off Worm Guy's bitten hand (which regenerates). Mark (who got bitten on the crotch) pretends that it didn't get him and slowly transforms over the rest of the episode, until it turns out that Doug the Koala Man's saliva acts as an antidote.

* In the ''Left Behind'' DLC of ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'', a series of logs tells the story of a squad of soldiers who crashed in the mall where Ellie and Joel are hiding. One of them had been bitten in the arm by an infected squadmate and had it amputated. However, it's left unclear whether the amputation was successful at stopping the infection. [[ShootTheShaggyDog In his feverish paranoia he killed the only other survivor of his squad, tearing open his stitches in the process and leading to his death from blood loss since he couldn't stitch himself back up with one arm.]]

* In ''VideoGame/GrimFandango'', the spread of Sproutella (a chemical that makes the skeletal inhabitants of the afterlife DeaderThanDead by tuning them into flowers) can be stopped by cutting away the sprouted parts before it reaches your head. Salvador Limones demonstrates this by using an ax to chop a sprouting soldier in half: he's left with his head, half his torso, and one arm - but survives and continues supporting LaResistance on a unicycle.

* Subverted in ''Film/TheBlob1988''. The homeless man suddenly shows up wielding an axe, but it turns out that he's trying to hack his lower arm off because the micro-blob that fell from space has started consuming it. Before he can finish, the blob clutches to the limb's remainder to continue eating him.

* In ''Film/{{Evolution}}'', Dr Block finds himself host to an alien fly that is burrowing into his leg. He refuses to let doctors cut off the leg in question until he learns that it's headed for his testicles. [[spoiler:Ultimately, they pull it out of his rectum instead.]]

* Used in the ''Literature/{{Twilight}}''/''Series/{{Heroes}}'' crossover "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12045706/1/Dark-Days Dark Days]]" when Victoria and Adam are able to modify the Shanti virus so that it can infect vampires; so long as the vampires are bitten on their extremities, the limbs can be "safely" removed before infection spreads to the brain and becomes irreversible, but one vampire bitten on the ear cannot be treated so easily.

** And later Martellus cut his hand off and replaced it with a prosthetic after being hit with a poisoned knife.

* In ''VideoGame/TheQuarry'', amputating any body piece that was injured by [[spoiler:a werewolf or someone merely infected]] will stop the spread of the infection. Bobby can be seen shooting his finger off after [[spoiler:a recently-infected Nico]] bites him, and Dylan can insist on [[spoiler:getting his hand amputated]]. [[spoiler:Laura]] also removed her [[EyeScream slashed eyeball]], which turns out to have saved her from the infection.

* The Manhattan Project had a policy to cover contamination with plutonium. Anyone who had plutonium enter their body through a cut or a scratch on a limb would be subjected to immediate high amputation to keep it from entering the rest of their body. Creator/RobertAHeinlein mentioned this policy in his short story "The Long Watch".

* [[https://www.sciencealert.com/a-man-lopped-off-his-finger-after-being-bitten-by-a-snake-and-it-was-totally-unnecessary A man in China]] chopped off his finger after being bitten by a snake. [[ShaggyDogStory Afterwards doctors said it was completely unnecessary and the snake wasn't even that venomous.]]
[[/folder]]