Poisoned Bullets
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I'm writing a story, the events set in a fictional but pretty much similar to 1990s London. My character "J" is a healthy, medium built 30 years old male, J gets shot with a poisoned bullet that ( Read more... )
I'm writing a story, the events set in a fictional but pretty much similar to 1990s London. My character "J" is a healthy, medium built 30 years old male, J gets shot with a poisoned bullet that ( Read more... )
The hospital treatment will start with what the current symptoms are. The general rule is the same as CPR - Cardiac (Heart) first, then breathing. So if the poison has affected the heart, a good doctor will pick that, although a great deal of blood has been lost, it's not nearly enough to create heart issues. The doctor will then call for tests, check for other wounds, double-check the wound to make sure nothing obvious has been missed ... a shoulder flesh wound is unlikely to have hidden major blood loss or organ damage.
The tests may or may not show the poison, but will take a while to come back, so it'll be symptom management until then. The doctor may assume a heart attack from some of your listed symptoms, so may investigate along those lines. As the author, it is up to you of course whether they notice the traces of poison on and in the wound. Finding that will, of course, change the tack.
It'll also depend on whether the doctors have seen the symptoms before. Even nowadays, with the level of training that doctors get, a lot of things have slipped off the radar. A 75 doctor will recognise certain communicable diseases faster than one who has just left medical training, simply because the 75 year old has grown up in and worked in areas with polio, diptheria, etc. A doctor from a tropical area will probably recognise leprosy faster than one in Melbourne or Toronto.
Thus, for your story, if your doctor or someone around has seen the poisoning symptoms before, diagnosis will be a lot faster. ("Reminds me of that nasty chemical spill back in '93. But how would this guy get dosed with Tryptomyetheline Cyanate?")
As to antidotes, there's two ways to go with this. There's the ones that are true antidotes, which negate the effects of the poison. (Think Narcan). However, if the poison lasts longer than the antidote, they may need several doses over several hours.
The other way is the relief of the symptoms for as long as it takes the body to flush the poison out. In your case, ventilation to assist breathing, pain killers for the agony, etc.
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