To me this is a very serious and sad thing. There are many accidents in cooking - burns, cuts, etc. But this person was dealing with something deadly. I feel very bad for him, and hope that other molecular gastronomers will take note of this unfortunate situation.
He will I am sure be able to get prostheses, but he will never be the chef that it looks like he was aspiring to be.
I wanted it to be thought provoking.
You should have a good working knowledge of what you're doing before you blunder into something that could potentially kill or maim you.