What happens if the bullet stays inside the body when I get shot?
As the others have stated, there is not general answer to this because it depends on a lot of things.Where you were hit, what type of bullet it was, etc. Generally, if it is easy to get to and not near any high-risk organs like the heart or brain, they will take it out. If it is near a high-risk area or has fragmented it is a judgment call by the surgeon.Fragments have sharp edges and may cause problems and would probably be removed, but it’s tricky.Survivability is mostly a function of where you are hit, not if the bullet exited or not. If it hits in a muscle area like your butt, you should survive easily. If it hits your femoral artery, you are in bad shape and could bleed out in 15 minutes unless they can clamp it right away. A gut shot can be bad and cause death slowly through internal bleeding or sepsis. If you get hit in any critical organ like the heart, brain, neck, etc. it’s over pretty quick unless you’re really really lucky. On the other hand, you might not want to survive a wound like that…
What happens when a carotid artery gets nicked?
The carotid artery supplies the head and neck with oxygenated blood, this artery is a vital artery and if cut the person would bleed out in a short matter of minutes and die. It really depends on how deep the cut is into the artery but, either way, when that artery is cut, that persons life is at great risk and they need to be rushed to the emergency room. Because of the lack of oxygen to the brain, this will cause the person to faint or go into a coma depending on how much blood loss and this could also cause permanent brain damage. For first aid there really isn't much you can do unless you have medical instruments and can clamp the artery shut to stoop the blood loss. If this is a real situation and you are seeking answers from the internet and this person hasn't been seen by an emergency technician then this person is already dead. Clammy skin and shaking are the result of too much blood loss.
Why do people slit their wrists instead of their femoral artery? Are these people hoping they’ll be saved?
So I’m going to answer this from two points of view…The first being the medical side. I would suspect there are a few reasons why people slit their wrists instead of the femoral; namely the availability to get at the wrist as opposed to the femoral. If you think about it, the mainstay of any clothing someone wears is t-shirt and long pants. this leaves your wrist easily accessible and makes it easier to quick cover incase someone walks in on you about to cut as opposed to trying to pull up your pants/ pull down your skirt or dress pants leg. The next reason is depth. Take a look at your wrist for a quick second, I personally weigh 280 lbs (to be fair, most of it is in my abdomen, but it is spread out too) and I can see on my right wrist about four or five different veins, thats four or five holes that can gush blood out, not including the arteries if I would hit those.The last reason, and by NO means should you take this as a reason for everyone; is that cutting is often not so much a way to kill themself but as a way to deal with emotional pain as well as have some sense of control. It can also be used as a way to get attention. The whole “I have an issue. I need help. I don’t know how to ask for it though…. please help me.” Again, do NOT take that final reason as why everyone cuts.From the flip side, slipping back to when I was 15 and full of depression and a general attitude of life sucks, I did indeed cut myself, though I tended to go lengthwise instead of across my wrist. At that point it was a way to cope with life, puberty, and the way that I viewed having a shitty existence. To be honest, I truly don’t think most people who cut want to kill themselves, If they did then they would go about it a different way than cutting themself (think about it, how painful is a papercut vs a cut on your upper arm?) Plus, if they’re GOING to cut their femoral, they’re probably going to be more likely to either overdose (statistically how most females commit suicide) or hang themself/ use a firearm/ get in the path of an oncoming train/ etc (statistically how most males commit suicide).
Is there any arteries/veins in the leg by the ankle ?
Yeah. There are arteries and veins all through your body. If you look at your feet, you can see a big artery that crosses the top of your instep. That sort of has to be connected to something above it, that would go through the ankle. (logic, here?) Look at your ankle, you'll be able to see it. There's one that crosses over the anklebone and one that goes across the inside, too.
Femoral artery nicked by a knife...?
I'm writing a story, and need some medical advice. The character is attacked and stabbed in the thigh with a knife. The blade nicks the femoral artery. As there is no hospital nearby, and they only have access to basic first aid supplies and little medical knowledge, do you think cauterising the bleeding artery would work to save the victims life? Thanks for any advice you can give.