Emergency overdose procedures and shot by a crossbow

Jan 30, 2017 11:10

I have some questions about two unrelated scenes from the same novel. The setting is current day AU-USish ( Read more... )

~medicine: injuries (misc), ~medicine: overdose, ~medicine: emts/paramedics

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lilacsigil February 2 2017, 07:51:33 UTC
EMTs will treat the symptoms and get her to hospital ASAP. If you google "emt seizure procedure" or something similar, you will get lots of accounts of what they do. They will take the bags with them because the hospital may want to test them; it's also possible the police will take them but this varies hugely by location.

If your character is shot in the upper back at such a close range four times, he's going to hit something major - the bolts will go right through his torso. It is potentially survivable with quick medical assistance (at least one lung will deflate and he will bleed a lot) presuming you don't hit a major blood vessel or organ. It's also plausible not to hit his spine. Expandable tips will do massive damage and he will bleed to death. The bolts themselves will do some muscle damage and the surgery or surgeries to save his life will do more. A long rehab followed by ongoing problems with muscles is entirely likely.

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featherfire February 2 2017, 18:00:49 UTC
Okay, no expandable tips lol.

Ugh, I'm recalling that one of my earlier searches was thickness of human torso vs length of crossbow bolt and they were like, the same or very close in thickness. I forgot all about that, damn. Would it make a difference if i put more distance between them? I might need to switch to a gun after all... would a small gun be puncturing organs too, or could the damage just be muscular?

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lilacsigil February 3 2017, 08:01:55 UTC
The more distance you have, the less momentum your crossbow will have, just like any other projectile. Twenty feet is pretty close. The problem you have with avoiding organ damage is that the torso is full of organs, and any kind of projectile weapon fired accurately is likely to hit something. A regular bullet is more likely to skid off bone than a crossbow, which will break bone, though some bullets are designed to break up in the body and cause more harm. But four shots are still likely to hit something relevant.

If he's shielding his boyfriend, the angle is going to be important - if the shooter is on the same level or slightly lower and hits his upper back while the boyfriend is pushed down for protection, the boyfriend might be fine.

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featherfire February 2 2017, 20:44:45 UTC
I completely forgot to mention (I typed this post in a hurry) that he is actually shielding someone else from being shot, pushes him against a tree. If he's shot in this way, would it go through him and into his boyfriend? what about from a greater distance? vs. a gun?

Sorry to bombard you with questions, I didn't realize how much of a wall this was. ^^;

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lilacsigil February 4 2017, 00:54:56 UTC
I know very little about crossbows, but I do know bullets fired from a pistol, due to their smaller size and lower velocity, miss or nick organs or lodge in bone, even at close range. They cause much less damage and cavitation than say, a high powered rifle.

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