In the pre-anesthesia era, Scottish surgeon Robert Liston was famous for his speed, once amputating a leg in two and a half minutes. During one operation, he cut so fast that he accidentally severed his assistant's fingers and slashed a spectator's coat. The patient died of gangrene, the assistant died of gangrene from his wounded fingers, and the spectator died of fright. It remains the only known surgery with a 300% mortality rate.