Sometimes I hear stories about people who receive apparently non-lethal gunshot wounds, and appear to recover from them, only to die of unspecified complications weeks, months or even (in one case) years later. What sort of lethal long-term complications can arise from gunshot wounds? One such cause of death I’ve heard of is Critical Organ Shutdown (or Multiple Organ Failure as it is sometimes called); does anyone know anything about this (or any good sites that deal with it)?
Also, what sort of complications might arise from bullets passing through the trunk (I imagine it would depend to a large extent on which internal organs were damaged)? I’d be particularly interested to know what might happen if bullets passed through the intestinal tract, given that this part of the body is apparently filled with potentially harmful bacteria.
IANAMD, but…
Massive infection like sepsis is a very commmon side effect of gunshot wounds to the abdomen (there’s a great scene in the movie “Three Kings” that shows this in detail).
The infection can come from ruptured intestines or organs, or just from the outside through the open wound.
Internal bleeding can cause delayed death in gunshot victims days after the initial trauma as well. Multiple organ failure can happen due to the immense trauma and blood loss typical to a gunshot wound.
As for what could cause death YEARS later, I’m not really sure. Maybe pnuemonia due to quadraplegia that resulted from a gunshot? But in that case, the cause of death was pneumonia.
Hopefully, Qadgop or someone with actual clinical experience will be along shortly.
When it’s a long delay (years, I mean), it’s usually the case where the actual death is caused by the ongoing medical condition.
Thus if you shoot someone and he goes into a vegetative state for a decade and finally dies, the DA can charge you with murder under the argument that the shot was ultimately responsible for the death.
Sepsis does not take years or even months so I don’t think that OP is asking about this. Every year (at least up to a few years ago) a few names are added to the Viet Nam memorial naming those that have since died from there wounds. If your liver is damaged by a bullet it may take many years for your condition to worsen past the point you can recover. If someone dies from a complication that would not have occured without the original wound then they are considered to have died of wounds. I don’t know what the VA criteria is
It’s possible for a bullet to become lodged in the body, only to become loose later on and press against some vital nerve or artery. I suppose a lodged bullet could even become embolized (make its way into a major blood vessel) and cause damage that way, although that would be extremely rare.
Lead poisoning is also a risk, although I don’t know how likely that would be to actually kill you.
As mentioned, gunshot wounds can lead to infections, and massive infection can lead to the so-called Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), or somewhat more precisely, the Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS).
The above are acute or subacute develpoments (days to weeks). Over the longer term, the original track of the gunshot wound can lead to non healing sores or communications between organs and/or body cavities (i.e. fistulas). Infections are common. If the gunshot led to paralysis, there are a whole host of infectious complications from that too, in addition to a tendency for fatal blood clots to form.
I once saw a guy whose urinary system was shattered by a machine bullet from the Korean War. The ensuing renal failure directly contributed to his premature death about thirty years later.
So, lots of ways to implicate gunshots wounds as a cause of delayed death.