I know there are plenty of cases in which someone has survived a shot through the brain, or in which only part of their functioning is impaired, but for the most part, why does a bullet randomly aimed at someone’s head kill them nearly instantaneously? Rather than just losing eyesight or the ability to move an arm or leg. Thanks!
In: Biology
It all comes down to what’s hit and by how much force. Some areas of the brain we can do without (it’s not recommended but it’s possible to function without some parts of the brain) however a lot of the brain we can’t do without and damage to those parts of the brain is usually fatal. The problem with ballistics is weird shit happens when a bullet going really fast hits a solid object. Most bullets upon impacting the skull or body will deform and tumble (called keyholing in the shooting world) this is an intentional as it increases tissue damage and helps ensure what/whoever you shot goes down. I’m sure you can imagine why this happening in your brain cage is a bad thing. There’s also something called hydrostatic shock. The human body is mostly water and water doesn’t compress well the pressure created by the projectile cause further tissue damage. The bigger and faster the round the more this effect comes into play. That said it is 100% possible to survive a head shot (like I said ballistics can get weird) when I was in nursing school one of my teachers told us about the time she saw a young man come into the ER with a gunshot wound to the forehead. Somehow the 9mm bullet didn’t penetrate the skull and instead rode the curve of his skull under the skin exiting out the back of his head and leaving a channel wound several inches long. The kid was still concussed (the force has to go somewhere) but all he needed was stitches and observation.
The brain controls important bodily functions and the bullet stops the brain from performing those functions. That said, I read about Rep. Gabrielle Giffords who was shot in the head and has survived. The doctor said that had both sides of her brain been impacted, she would have died. But the bullet only penetrated one hemisphere of her brain so the other hemisphere was able to maintain enough cognitive functions for her to live. In fact, after the shooting, she was at least semi-conscious within a short time–you can see her adjusting her skirt as the ambulance takes her to the hospital after the shooting. She’s lost a bunch of brain function even so–she’s lost 50% of her vision and she has aphasia (can’t string together more than a few words at a time) because the verbal area of her brain was damaged. Plus one half of her body is partially paralyzed. But she’s made enormous strides in the 10 years since the attack.
When a high speed projectile enters the skull several things happen. Bone fragments are forced into the brain. The projectile can fragment or and deform if a soft metal (lead), and there is a shock wave that traverses through the brain and rebounds off the inside of the skull
These produce trauma to multiple parts of the brain as well as damage to the blood vessels that provide the brain with oxygen and nutrients. Any of these factors can cause death. Some parts can cause death quicker than others. The blood loss, may not cause immediate death, but damaging the part of the brain that regulates the breathing would cause a slow death (2-3 minutes) if the part of the brain that controls the heart is damaged, death would be almost instantaneous if the person wasn’t put on life support immediately (CPR), if parts of the motor functions are damaged, a person could remain ‘brain alive’ but be in a vegetative state unable to respond to the outside world.
Latest Answers