How is it that a person can be killed by injecting air into their blood stream?

Question

What happens to their body?
And after their death of having oxigen in their blood, is there any evidence that could be found that they were killed in such a way?

Answer 1

It is very important to understand that the rule is that the amount of air has to be ABLE TO SEPERATE THE CIRCULATION INTO TWO COLUMNS OF BLOOD
this could be around 20-25 cc in a large vessel , 5-10 cc in a neck vessel & less than 3 cc in a brain or a heart vessel.

The effect depends on the location and the amount of air injected but it could lead to an organ failure and sudden death

Forensic medicine could easily detect if the person was killed by this manner through the needle mark on a strategicaly lethal vessel and with an angle of entry that eliminate suicide along with other circumstential evidences such as struggle signs in addition to autopsy which will reveal the clinical cause of death

Dont go kill anybody with it then !!

Answer 2

An air embolism, or more generally gas embolism, is a medical condition caused by gas bubbles in the bloodstream (embolism in a medical context refers to any large moving mass or defect in the blood stream). Small amounts of air often get into the blood circulation accidentally during surgery and other medical procedures, but most of these in veins are stopped at the lungs, and a venous air embolism that shows symptoms is very rare. Death may occur if a large bubble of gas becomes lodged in the heart, stopping blood from flowing from the right ventricle to the lungs (this is similar to vapor lock in engine fuel systems). However, the amount of gas necessary for this to happen is quite variable, and also depends on a number of other factors, such as body position.

Gas embolism into an artery, termed arterial gas embolism, or AGE, is a more serious matter than in a vein, since a gas bubble in an artery may directly cause stoppage of blood flow to an area fed by the artery. The symptoms of AGE depend on the area of blood flow, and may be those of stroke or heart attack if the brain or heart (respectively) are affected.

Answer 3

injecting air will cause an air lock thus restricting the blood flow. As the blood flow is restricted, it will starve the brain of oxygen. As the brain is starved of oxygen, the vital organs will be shut down. As for evidence, first there will be slight bruising where the needle entered the body. I'm not sure what the brain will look like but it will be obvious that blood wasn't getting to it and then there will be the lack of blood ahead of the air lock.

Answer 4

well, when you inject an air bubble into someone's bloodstream, it doesn't kill them because of the oxygen, it kills them because of the gap in the bloodflow. When your heart pumps blood it takes it in and pushes it out several tubes into major arteries, all the while refilling it with oxygen and displacing it to the rest of your body. When you put a gap (air bubble) in the process, it causes improper and off beat heart palpitations (beats), which then sends the person into cardiac arrest (commonly called a heart attack)

also, to answer another person's question... The reason why you weren't killed when there were small air bubbles in your cartridge was because they weren't enough to cast your heartbeat off balance, they didn't have enough effect on your blood pressure either.

Answer 5

It takes a fairly large amount of air to do this, enough to fill the right ventricle with air instead of blood several times over, and it'll show on autopsy, so hide the body well.

Answer 6

See, I find this really strange. I've been diabetic for twelve years and when I used to inject, if there were an air bubble in my cartridge, I would just inject as normal because I didn't know about this.

I'm not dead. Why?

Answer 7

an air bubble is called an embolism. If it goes to your heart you could have a heart attack. If it goes to your brain you could have a stroke. It's just not a good thing to do.

Answer 8

You know what? It must take a lot of air to do this. Small air bubbles are generally no big deal.

Answer 9

it can cause air embolism. air bubbles lodge in pulmonary capillaries. signs and symptoms are dyspnea, hypotension which may lead to shock, cyanosis, tachycardia, increasing venous pressure, loss of consciousness and worst cardiac arrest