My brother shot himself in the chest with birdshot I believe #7 birdshot. The police told my mom that he died instantly and my dad believes that as well, but I don’t. I figure my brother lived a good 10 seconds or so, long enough to regret what he did.
Can anyone confirm or deny this? Please don’t be cruel. I’ve been through enough already. If you have cruel thoughts or something mean to say, please keep it to yourself.
There’s probably really no way to know, maybe one could surmise depending on the final position of his body, but somehow I doubt he suffered much, it was probably a fairly quick death. I’m sure you are still in shock and sometimes that makes a person fixate on morose details of a death like this, try not to worry about it too much as there is nothing to be gained by this knowledge and it isn’t a healthy thing to go over it again and again in your head, really you’ll never know for sure.
You have my sympathy, and I hope you and your parents can come together and support one another emotionally in this difficult time.
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A traumatic and fatal impact like that to the chest would cause death by disabling the heart. I asked my cardiologist how I will die if I have heart failure or a heart attack at home alone when a response cannot be summoned. He said when the brain stops receiving renewed oxygenated blood from the heart-driven circulatory system, I will go into a coma, and then die from brain death. The heart itself has no pain receptors, which is why he could perform my angioplasty without general anesthesia.
I’m sorry to say that I think your brother would have lived, with consciousness, until the brain went comatose from the failure of the heart to continue to nourish it. No idea whether ten seconds, or more or less, would be a valid estimate. Maybe about as long ss it would take to suffocate if air were cut off.
“Instant death” is, I suspect, a vague term used by authorities to indicate that the patient’s life was mercifully short after the trauma, but how many seconds it might entail is likely something subjective.
Sorry to hear about this. Condolences and may he RIP.
A few relevant posts: How long to die from puncture? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board
To be honest, I think going down this particular rabbit hole has no chance of helping you to cope with this tragedy.
I suspect Tigerland may be worried about the religious aspects (that mention of regretting his action). I have no idea what religion you are, but the RCC, that hotbed of radical novelties, does not consider suicide as a major sin any more. It used to be considered a huge sin (to the point where sucides could not be buried in holy ground) because it was viewed as a rejection of the Divine Mercy, but nowadays it is considered to be an act of pain performed by someone who is not wholly responsible for his own actions: since “not responsible”, “not a sin”.
Per Nava here is the wiki
Tigerland - my sincerest condolences.
and it takes less than an instant for a thought to cross a mind…
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I think this will do better in IMHO where people can give advice on how to deal with the situation as well.
Moving thread from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion.
My experience is that when one is suddenly exposed to great physical trauma, the brain focuses entirely on the physical aspects of the situation at hand. There is no contemplation or reflection on what may have led to the situation, and generally no pain or suffering in the first few moments.
Very sorry for your loss, Tigerland.
Sympathies and regrets for your loss.
I’d say just don’t worry about it. The exact details of his death are just not worth your concern.
For what it’s worth, ten seconds is a very short time, and then it’s over. So, even if you’re right…it doesn’t have much meaning in any higher sense. Take the worst pain you’ve ever been in, in your entire life… Ten seconds? Okay…1, 2, 3, … it’s over.
(Not like passing a kidney stone, which can last for hours and hours…)
Remember the good times, celebrate his accomplishments, rejoice in the life he lived. Perhaps “pay it forward” by giving your support to suicide prevention organizations.
Celebrate life, even those lives that we have lost.
The thing about the worst pain you can imagine is that your brain’s ability to interpret pain maxes out pretty early. And so stubbing your toe and getting your toe chopped off are about the same level of pain. The only difference is that after a minute the pain from the stubbed toe starts to go away.
The problem with debilitating pain is that it never goes away. So faced with an injury that renders you unconscious in a very short time, the amount of pain you can suffer is limited.
I am very sorry for your loss.
If you want an answer on what #7 will do to someone - under spoiler.
[spoiler] Assume a 12 gauge shotgun (most common), a blast at close range is going to open a hole and go through the organs pretty easily. There is a fair amount of power and pressure created (this is how so called “blanks” can kill you). I do a demonstration using #6 in my shotgun class, and it usually includes a 10 foot distance shot to show how at 10 feet the power has only grown to the size of a small soda can. If pushed against the chest, all of the power of the shot will be focused at the size of the barrel.
So he should have died very close to instantly depending on where he placed the barrel.[/spoiler]
Your first post on the Board.
I’m sorry he’s dead. If he’s dead, then whats there to confirm or deny? I’m not sure what you’re grasping for here.
If you are in the Chicago area, have you considered grief counselling?
I really have no idea, but I will say that any momentary physical pain was probably a drop in the barrel compared to his emotional pain. I’m so sorry for all of you. 
I would agree with this. A shotgun blast to the chest is an enormous physical and sensory shock. I would imagine the person would be severely stunned and in shock, and would not regain awareness before losing consciousness entirely.
Even without any shot in the shell the shock wave from the blast would likely have stunned his nervous system rendering him unconscious much like being struck in the head would with a blunt object.
Sorry for your loss.