Joined
·
6,247 Posts
Some time ago, somebody in this forum referred to a self-inflicted gunshot wound as a "selfie". I can't remember who it was who said that (sorry), but I've shamelessly appropriated the term for my own use since then.
A few days ago, a young man came into the ER with what was obviously a gunshot wound (low velocity) to his left hand. The bullet had entered on the palm side of the hand, near the ulnar edge (pinkie finger side) and exited the back of the hand, breaking the 5th metacarpal bone (the long bone in the palm of the hand that attaches to the pinkie finger).
There was also a fine dark stippling (gunpowder imbedded into the skin - sign of a close gunshot) on the palm, with a sharp edge to the stippling between the entrance wound and the edge of the palm, almost as if there had been something in his hand at the time of the shot. X- rays showed not only the broken 5th metacarpal bone, but also some fine slivers of a material that was not X-ray dense enough to be metal or bone, but definitely not flesh.
The young man's story (and he was sticking to it) was that he had tripped and impaled his hand on a protruding nail in the alley behind his apartment. I nodded, but I wasn't buying it; I asked the clerk to call the Sheriff's office and ask for a deputy to drop by.
While I was cleaning out the wound, I kept coming across tiny pieces of very thin glass; not like broken bottle glass or automotive glass (which I've seen a lot of, believe me), but more like the thickness of light bulb glass. Before I finished washing out the wound, the deputy had arrived, so she was able to question my patient as soon as I was done. I, of course, stuck around to hear the story get better.
After a few minutes of doggedly repeating his lame story, the young fellow finally came clean. He had been trying to get a "gangsta-like" picture of himself with a pistol, but since he was holding the gun in his right hand, he had to use his (non-dominant) left hand to hold the cell phone. This was a rather awkward arrangement, so he was apparently concentrating more on his photography than handling the gun safely.
As it turns out, there is a phenomenon in muscle neurophysiology that when you squeeze one finger either very hard or in a very awkward position, the other fingers - including, often, the fingers of the other hand - also squeeze, involuntarily. In his efforts to get his left hand to push the "shutter" button on his phone, his right index finger (also known as the "trigger finger") squeezed in sympathy.
All would have been well had he not had the gun loaded with a round in the chamber and the hammer cocked. Alas, he had not taken those rudimentary precautions, and the gun fired. The bullet first entered the cell phone and then into his hand, carrying fine slivers of glass from the display in its wake.
Fortunately for the community of law-abiding and safe gun owners, this young man was a convicted felon and was not permitted to possess firearms in the state of Oregon. So, after he finished with me, he had to do some more paperwork down at the county jail.
Jim
A few days ago, a young man came into the ER with what was obviously a gunshot wound (low velocity) to his left hand. The bullet had entered on the palm side of the hand, near the ulnar edge (pinkie finger side) and exited the back of the hand, breaking the 5th metacarpal bone (the long bone in the palm of the hand that attaches to the pinkie finger).
There was also a fine dark stippling (gunpowder imbedded into the skin - sign of a close gunshot) on the palm, with a sharp edge to the stippling between the entrance wound and the edge of the palm, almost as if there had been something in his hand at the time of the shot. X- rays showed not only the broken 5th metacarpal bone, but also some fine slivers of a material that was not X-ray dense enough to be metal or bone, but definitely not flesh.
The young man's story (and he was sticking to it) was that he had tripped and impaled his hand on a protruding nail in the alley behind his apartment. I nodded, but I wasn't buying it; I asked the clerk to call the Sheriff's office and ask for a deputy to drop by.
While I was cleaning out the wound, I kept coming across tiny pieces of very thin glass; not like broken bottle glass or automotive glass (which I've seen a lot of, believe me), but more like the thickness of light bulb glass. Before I finished washing out the wound, the deputy had arrived, so she was able to question my patient as soon as I was done. I, of course, stuck around to hear the story get better.
After a few minutes of doggedly repeating his lame story, the young fellow finally came clean. He had been trying to get a "gangsta-like" picture of himself with a pistol, but since he was holding the gun in his right hand, he had to use his (non-dominant) left hand to hold the cell phone. This was a rather awkward arrangement, so he was apparently concentrating more on his photography than handling the gun safely.
As it turns out, there is a phenomenon in muscle neurophysiology that when you squeeze one finger either very hard or in a very awkward position, the other fingers - including, often, the fingers of the other hand - also squeeze, involuntarily. In his efforts to get his left hand to push the "shutter" button on his phone, his right index finger (also known as the "trigger finger") squeezed in sympathy.
All would have been well had he not had the gun loaded with a round in the chamber and the hammer cocked. Alas, he had not taken those rudimentary precautions, and the gun fired. The bullet first entered the cell phone and then into his hand, carrying fine slivers of glass from the display in its wake.
Fortunately for the community of law-abiding and safe gun owners, this young man was a convicted felon and was not permitted to possess firearms in the state of Oregon. So, after he finished with me, he had to do some more paperwork down at the county jail.
Jim
