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In Punisher MAX (a comic book) a character's hand is sliced off in a single swing (seen here - warning graphic content).

Is this actually possible for a human to accomplish this?
If so how much force would it require?

The reason I'm skeptical is because there doesn't seem to be a clear point in the wrist where an amputation like this could occur (seen in xray below)xray of human hand

In addition, I there isn't much research I could find on treating traumatic hand amputations, so they seem to be fairly uncommon.

In spite of this, ncbi claims that traumatic hand amputations are fairly common, "Traumatic injury is the most common etiology of hand amputations". (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK551692/)

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any statistics on the causes of amputations, so it's still unclear to me to what degree (if any) knife injuries are at fault.

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    Also, be aware that there's a deal of difference between the "knife" in your question and the machete (much heavier, more momentum) shown in the comic strip.
    – Jiminy Cricket.
    Mar 22 at 23:24
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    I absolutely could lop your hand off with that knife. It's big and heavy, which means leverage and momentum. See that gap where the radius and ulna meet the hand bones? As every butcher and chef in the world knows, that knife would easily slice right through that gap.
    – Carey Gregory ♦
    Mar 23 at 0:36
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    If I were "butchering", I would remove the hand between the radius/ulna and carpal bones. If I had a machete, I'd go through the carpals. Less bone to traverse. And of course it's possible to chop off one's hand. Look at Sharia penal codes.
    – anongoodnurse
    Mar 23 at 7:53
  • "there doesn't seem to be a clear point in the wrist where an amputation like this could occur (seen in xray below)" I am not a trained butcher or trained in medicine but intuitively thought the same as Carey and anongoodnurse. Any joint is an easy amputation point. A chopping with a sufficient weighted device or even placing the heavy blade in position and pushing down heavily enough could split the joint and allow the knife to cut right through
    – Chris Rogers
    Mar 24 at 8:56

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