could one really live with a gun shot to the head?

Question

in arecent conversation with my dad ths came up and it makes me wonder. he beleives that abraham lincoln could have lived if the doctors didnt probe around in his head. he says he knows someone who was shot in the head and lived and the guy isnt living in a hospital bed.

Answer 1

There are people who live through a gunshot to the head. Most people die. They did probe in Lincoln's head, but he would have died from lead poisoning or infection if not the wounding itself. We did not have the many antibiotics then that we have now.

Answer 2

I seriously doubt if Abraham Lincoln could have survived the shooting. The bullet entered his head behind his left ear and lodged behind the right eye. It caused a severe internal hemorrage inside the brain and when he was taken from the theater he was paralyzed and having difficulty breathing. Even with current surgical techniques, it is doubtful he would survive. At best, we might be able to preserve his life with inventions like the respirator, but whether you consider that living is up to interpretation. He would certainly not have awoken the same man. The survivability of a head shot depends on many factors. First of all, there is the caliber of the bullet itself, and how closely you are to the gun. Then you need to consider where the bullet enters the skull, the trajectory of the bullet, and the type of immediate care you get. Being shot with a BB is a lot different than being shot with a .45 or a 9mm, or even a shotgun. There are always rare instances that defy the odds, and there are always lucky shots, and a lot in between those two outcomes. Regardless, being shot in the head is not ever a good thing. The only president who would likely have survived his assasination attempt was Garfield. He was shot in the lower back, and in that case the physicians probing of the wound to locate the bullet actually pushed it deeper into the body. One doctor actually managed to puncture the liver, and their nasty ungloved hands introduced the infection that eventually did kill him. At the trial, the man who did the shooting tried to use this as his defense. The autopsy showed the original location of the bullet was in a non-fatal, non-life threatening spot. Had the doctors kept their hands to themselves, Mr. Garfield would have recovered. The jury didn't buy it as a defense, and he was eventually given the death penalty. But he is the only president who concievably have survived the assasination. Lincoln would not have.

Answer 3

Yes it is possible. There was a story quite a while ago about a boy who was a cashier at a gas station that got robbed. He was shot in the head, had to have half his brain removed and he survived, still has motor skills and an average IQ. The story was shown on Maury a few times and I believe Ripley's Believe It Or Not. It would all depend on the distance at which you were shot, the caliber of the weapon, and trajectory of the bullet.

Answer 4

That is an often told story about Lincoln I don't know how true it actually is. I do know that I used to work with a guy who was caught in a compromising position with his friends wife, the friend shot him in the head w/ a .22 and the doctors left bullet in. The entry wound was clearly visible on my co-workers forehead. So it is possible.

Answer 5

i know three guys that have been shot in the head and lived. one of them has severe motor skill problems, though.

the other 2 guys are what we'd consider normal though, at least for the most part.

i dont know if lincoln would have lived though, from what i can remember about his assassination, i think it was enough to do him in no matter what the doctors would have done.

Answer 6

I know a security guard who was shot through the eye by an intruder. He is blind in that eye but other than that, all is ok. I think they left the bullet in place.