Once in the operating room, he changed his mind and warned doctor Tad Grenga: "If you sew it back on, I'll cut it off again." Grenga closed the wound but did not reattach the hand because Passmore told him he did not want it re-attached for religious reasons.
In 1997, Passmore sued Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and hand surgeon, Dr. Tad Grenga of Portsmouth, Va., for $3 million for not re-attaching his hand! He said that he was psychotic when he cut off his hand and when he was admitted to hospital, and Dr Grenga should not have listened to him.
He said he saw the numbers "666" on his right hand. "It meant that I was evil," Passmore testified. Remembering the biblical verse "If thy right hand offends thee, cut it off and cast it from thee," he did exactly that! Passmore had a history of alcoholism and psychotic disorders.
