From the NZPA/AAP:
Former New Zealand prime minister David Lange stunned the surgeon amputating his leg under a local anaesthetic this week by asking mid-operation if he was removing the correct limb.
Lange, who turns 63 today, underwent the high-risk operation without a general aesthetic in an Auckland hospital on Tuesday because of his poor health.
Just as the limb had nearly been taken off, a drowsy Lange asked: "Have you got the right leg".
"My heart stopped for a moment and then I just smiled to myself," surgeon Peter Vann said.
The other members of the operating team laughed.
A former lawyer, Lange was known for his rapier wit and debating skills during his turbulent term as Labour prime minister from 1984 to 1989.
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