I know it kind of sounds like a dumb question but how is it when someone gets shot or stabbed they immediately seem to die. How is it that it happens so quickly? For instance I can understand how getting shot in the head would shut down the brain immediately but if someone gets stabbed in the stomach and is dead right away why is this?
2007-07-12 13:48:54 · 9 answers · asked by Sweet K 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Medicine
Depends on what is damaged in your stomach.
Your largest artery (the vessel that carried oxygen rich blood around the body) runs from your heart and through your abdomen. If this is ripped, torn or punctured your exsanguate (bleed out) very quickly - that is the blood is pumped out of your circulation somewhere into your abdominal cavity. As you lose the blood your body tries to compensate very quickly but very quickly have cardiac arrest as there is no fluid to pump around the body. Blood will thus not reach the brain and you will die relatively quickly (within minutes).
However, if you get shot/stabbed in the stomach it will take some minutes depending on what is damaged.
2007-07-12 14:51:30 · answer #1 · answered by Olivereindeer 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Too much TV. Even a wide hole in the abdominal aorta doesn't cause instantaneous death. It isn't pleasant to watch, and loss of consciousness is fast, but it isn't like the movies. On the other hand, there's no way to time brain death, since one could hardly hook people to an EEG before you murder them (hard to get those past the Institutional Review Board, unless the chief of staff is named Mengele).
2007-07-12 15:01:18 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Contrary to Hollywood, getting shot in the stomach will not kill you instantly, unless you get hit with something very large.
A small gunshot wound to the stomach region will cause stomach acid to enter the body cavity, leading to a slow and painful death. A large wound, such as a point-blank shotgun blast or 50-caliber sniper rifle round might cause, will leave such a large hole that you will rapidly lose enough blood to cause unconsciousness, and death will follow shortly.
2007-07-12 13:59:58 · answer #3 · answered by lithiumdeuteride 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
normally if this happens that someone is stabbed or shot, the knife or bullet would have hit a blood vellsel, a vein, a major artery, or an organ that would cause them to bleed to dealth
2007-07-13 00:19:25 · answer #4 · answered by sekalyma 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
"Seem to die" is the key. They lose consciousness from shock. Death occurs due to bleeding out, choking on blood or other fluids or throat spasm. Of course, direct , catastrophic heart , aortal or lung damage causes much faster death.
2007-07-12 13:56:29 · answer #5 · answered by Ren Hoek 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
a person dies because central pressure drops to a level in which blood can no longer be pumped into the system and the reason being, because there is an internal/external hemorrhage caused by the trauma.
2007-07-12 17:27:11 · answer #6 · answered by einsteinliam2 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
How many deaths have you witnessed?
It's pretty rare to have an instantaneous death (decapitation will do it, though). Loss of consciousness does not equal death.
Don't believe what you see on TV or in the movies.
2007-07-12 14:13:10 · answer #7 · answered by Pangolin 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The human body is extremely complexed and needs much oxygen, when you loose blood, you loose oxygen, five minutes and that's it.
2007-07-12 13:55:28 · answer #8 · answered by spir_i_tual 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
DEPENDS ON WHAT IS HIT
2007-07-12 14:18:31 · answer #9 · answered by Bettee62 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋