# Shot through the heart, is death instantaneous? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 6, 2010, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-through-the-heart-is-death-instantaneous/531511 "2010-03-06T05:24:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ramel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb8c5e/32.png) [@ramel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ramel)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-through-the-heart-is-death-instantaneous/531511/21 "2011-01-01T08:50:43Z")
I heard this only once and it was on the Internet, so you probably shouldn’t give it too much weight. But I heard that if you get shot through the heart, it can sent hydrostatic shockwaves throughout your arteries, including those which lead into the brain and the shockwave can kill your brain. “Some guy on the Internet” not being the most reliable of source, treat what I wrote with caution =P ---
**Author:** ![Cyningablod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Cyningablod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyningablod)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-through-the-heart-is-death-instantaneous/531511/22 "2011-01-01T09:28:46Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > Shot an small animal in the heart and it pretty much doesn’t move. > Place one shot in the brain and it will flop and bounce for quite a while. Kinda disconcerting when it is a human. > > Also, TV does not show the usual bladder and bowl release. > TV does not usually show the live babies spilling from a gut shot mother to be. > > One thing you can count on, it will not be as you expect it to be. Takes a while to get callous about it. > > YMMV What. the. fuck…? What in Christ’s name do you do for a living, Gus? Or is this some sick whoosh of a joke?? 😕 I know about the flopping/bouncing from CNS trauma, because as a kid growing up in the mountains of rural east TN, I hunted small game with a .22LR. Shot a lot of little critters that way. But the humans? And the fetal evacuation and such? Seriously. WTF?? ☹ ---
**Author:** ![AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-through-the-heart-is-death-instantaneous/531511/23 "2011-01-01T11:00:31Z")
Having personally experienced a catastrophic drop in blood pressure multiple times over an extended period it did indeed feel like the ‘head rush’ associated with standing up to quickly. During the most extreme periods I would lose consciousness and wake up with no memory of doing so (I just found myself on the ground and had no idea how I got there). When it comes to death by being shot through the heart in the sense most people mean (a fatal shot from instant heart damage) or decapitation, based on my experience I don’t think you have more than a few seconds of consciousness in this sort of situation and during them you are experiencing dwindling awareness. In the example from the TV show, if the guy shot himself with a reasonably high caliber bullet (a .38 or better) and hit himself dead in the heart it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume he slumped over instantly and didn’t move for the few remaining seconds before he lost enough blood internally to lose consciousness. Unless he was in the lobby of a hospital, he’s dead. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-through-the-heart-is-death-instantaneous/531511/24 "2011-01-01T17:40:54Z")
> [@butto](#): > > I asked my son this very question, since an ancestor of ours was killed near Kabul in Afghanistan, shot through the heart leading a cavalry charge over 130 years ago. My son is an Army surgeon and has served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He replied that with a high powered rifle, hydrostatic shock travels up the great vessels from the heart to the brain and smashes and pulps by massive bruising and death is instantaneousness. A lighter calibre weapon eg. .22 will cause much less of a shock wave. Therefore a firing squad is much faster than lethal injection, but of course messier to clean up. Either you’ve badly misunderstood your son, your son is having a funny with you, or…otherwise. This is not the way hydrostatic shock works even when it is arguably a phenomenon for consideration. > [@GusNSpot](#): > > Shot an small animal in the heart and it pretty much doesn’t move. > Place one shot in the brain and it will flop and bounce for quite a while. Kinda disconcerting when it is a human. Shooting a small animal (the size of a squirrel or rabbit) in the heart region and you’re likely to both traumatize multiple organs and put a comparatively large enough hole that the loss of blood pressure is virtually immediate. It is the loss of blood pressure, and the subsequent lack of gas transport, i.e. the movement of oxygenated blood to the capillaries, which causes rapid loss of consciousness. The only oxygen then available is that still located in the capillaries, and even there the sudden drop in pressure reduces the rate of peripheral gas exchange, although trauma to the neck or head can cause capillary dilation that temporarily increases pressure. Basically, once the heart stops pumping, oxygen can’t efficiently flow into the cells and cellular activity (including neural activity) slows exponentially. Mammals, after being shot in the head in such a way as to severely damage or sever the brainstem (the primitive part of the brain that attaches to the spinal cord and is responsible for basic motor functions) will drop instantly. A mammal shot in the cerebellum or prosencephalon (forebrain) may live for seconds or even minutes, and there are occasional examples of seemingly lethal forebrain injuries for which animals and people have lived indefinitely. Less developed creatures like reptiles can often survive what would seem to be utterly lethal head injuries and continue to move, as their central nervous system is somewhat more distributed > [@Blake](#): > > Secondly, the concept of hydrostatic shock is still being debated, but most ballistics experts don’t believe it exists to any appreciable degree. The idea of rifle rounds turning organs to mush through hydrostatic shock is simply not true, or at least no evidence of it has ever been found in the real world. This is true for handgun calibers, and generally true for many slower rifle rounds, for which the primary mechanism for damage is the primary wound channel. (It is true that some rounds have a greater tendency to tumble once changing mediums from air to the hydraulic environment of the body, as will any round that contacts bone or another solid material, but this is simply increasing the girth of the wound channel, not hydrostatic shock. Hydrostatic shock may play a larger role in hypervelocity rounds (\>4000 ft/s) like the .220 Swift and .22-250 Remington, as varmint hunters can attest to, but again this is comparing damage on a small creature with a limited amount of blood/fluid volume to disperse the shock versus a human with a much larger mass to disperse. For what it is worth, I’ve never heard of a credible forensics study or journal article on terminal ballistics that described an organ literally exploding from the passage of a bullet, though their are many instances of an organ being virtually shredded by a fragmented bullet. However, the tradeoff is that a fragmented round typically doesn’t penetrate as deeply as a round that remains intact, hence why many newer hollowpoint bullet designs focus on controlled expansion and remaining intact. Never mind what you may hear or read about the “buzzsaw” effect of such rounds; you can see by photos of such rounds into ballistic gelatin that even after ~14 inches of penetration they’ve turned 1.5 to 2 turns, with a final diameter roughly twice the original size; again, increasing the permanent wound channel size but more importantly limiting overpenetration. As for the o.p., the answer is no. In one piece of anecdota, my grandfather shot a robber in the chest (admittedly with a .32 S&W Long). Although his only knowledge of the forensics was from the arresting beat officers who claimed that the bullet penetrated into (or perhaps through) a ventricle of the heart, and despite the fact that the perpetrator spent twenty minutes bleeding on his shop floor while the police casually called an ambulance and shot the shit, he lived to make it to the hospital, have the bullet removed, successfully convalesce, and make an appearance in court, where he was subsequently convicted and sentenced to a long term, which he failed to fulfill owing to a tragic shaving accident in prison. (Apparently you shouldn’t shave the back of your neck with a jagged piece of rusty steel filched from the work shop.) My grandfather subsequently upgraded to a .38 Spl snub nose with wadcutters loaded backwards, but never had a real-world opportunity to test it. So it is entirely possible to survive being shot in the heart, at least with a minor caliber weapon. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-through-the-heart-is-death-instantaneous/531511/25 "2011-01-01T18:43:40Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > In my psych nursing days I had a patient who shot himself in the heart with a .22 rifle. The bullet lodged in his heart muscle and originally his medical team intended to leave it there, but it was interfering with the electrical signals to his ventricles so it was removed. He seemed to be making a recovery from the shooting and the surgery but ended up dying from cancer of the liver. I think you already told this story in this (semi-zombie) thread. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-through-the-heart-is-death-instantaneous/531511/26 "2011-01-02T05:02:12Z")
> [@Cyningablod](#): > > What. the. fuck…? > > What in Christ’s name do you do for a living, Gus? Or is this some sick whoosh of a joke?? 😕 > > I know about the flopping/bouncing from CNS trauma, because as a kid growing up in the mountains of rural east TN, I hunted small game with a .22LR. Shot a lot of little critters that way. > > But the humans? And the fetal evacuation and such? Seriously. WTF?? ☹ I’m an old man and been here and there over the years. Seen a lot, did a lot and wish I could forget some of it. Why do you think the kids get PTSD keepin you safe in your little protected place. World is mean & nasty most places when society breaks down. remember New Orleans? Better to not be so shocked and have a plan ready, sometimes you don’t have time to think, just act. I might chose to die for you but I’m dam sure not going to die because of you. Standing there saying, “You can’t.” will get you in a hurt real quick. No time for that silly stuff. Man’s inhumanity to man has no bounds. Best remember that. Don’t pay me no mind it, never happened, just a story I made up. And besides. I am just an old fart whistlin in the wind. ---
**Author:** ![jcc449](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9e5f3/32.png) [@jcc449](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jcc449)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2013, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-through-the-heart-is-death-instantaneous/531511/27 "2013-01-29T17:31:45Z")
I can share you people here true stories how shot through the heart is like. We do have Fatal Punishment in Taiwan, there are two type of executions, One shoot through the heart (Regular) and one shoot through the head(Hindbrain). The regular execution is shooting through the heart because the corpse would look better in one piece. The hindbrain execution (shoot through the head) is for organ donation, and this way the executed prisoner can keep most of his organ healthy. A While ago, (about 20 years ago) I witness a couple executions of major serious killers in Taiwan. The Heart Shot is totally “NOT An Instantly” kill shot. In fact, the prisoners usually are anesthetized before the shot, so they won’t panic or feel huge pain. But there is one prisoner who refuse to take drug and insist that he wants to take the pain as a punishment for what he did. When the first bullet went into his heart, he bounce up from the ground and yelling like hell bad, so the executor has to fire 2 more bullets into his chest to finalize his life. Overall , the executor has to fire 2 shots (sometimes 3) in heart to kill a life. There was also once a prisoner recovered from death half hour after been shot twice in heart, so the executor has to shoot him again. On the other hand, the brain shot also result an undead case once. But the surviving rate is a lot lower than the heart shot, and most of prisoners die instantly after one shot in the head. Now, Fatal Execution is a lot less now in Taiwan now. LIFE is a lot more complicated than we thought it is. Life can sometimes be a lot stronger and sometimes become so weak. HOPE these experiences help you to understand better. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-through-the-heart-is-death-instantaneous/531511/28 "2013-01-31T03:50:30Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > From what I’ve read, if the heart completely stops you have maybe 5 to 10 seconds of consciousness, not a minute or two. I forget who it was, but on some famous last words site I read about a man (I think a doctor) who was dying and was checking his pulse. He was conscious long enough to say “it stopped” and then died. Dr. [J. H. Green](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Henry_Green), M.D., DCL, Life Fellow of the UK Royal College of Surgeons. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-through-the-heart-is-death-instantaneous/531511/29 "2013-01-31T08:23:37Z")
> [@jcc449](#): > > I can share you people here true stories how shot through the heart is like. > We do have Fatal Punishment in Taiwan, there are two type of executions, One shoot through the heart (Regular) and one shoot through the head(Hindbrain). > The regular execution is shooting through the heart because the corpse would look better in one piece. > The hindbrain execution (shoot through the head) is for organ donation, and this way the executed prisoner can keep most of his organ healthy. > > A While ago, (about 20 years ago) > I witness a couple executions of major serious killers in Taiwan. > > The Heart Shot is totally “NOT An Instantly” kill shot. > In fact, the prisoners usually are anesthetized before the shot, so they won’t panic or feel huge pain. But there is one prisoner who refuse to take drug and insist that he wants to take the pain as a punishment for what he did. > > When the first bullet went into his heart, he bounce up from the ground and yelling like hell bad, so the executor has to fire 2 more bullets into his chest to finalize his life. > > Overall , the executor has to fire 2 shots (sometimes 3) in heart to kill a life. > There was also once a prisoner recovered from death half hour after been shot twice in heart, so the executor has to shoot him again. > > **On the other hand, the brain shot also result an undead case once.** > But the surviving rate is a lot lower than the heart shot, and most of prisoners die instantly after one shot in the head. > > Now, Fatal Execution is a lot less now in Taiwan now. > LIFE is a lot more complicated than we thought it is. Life can sometimes be a lot stronger and sometimes become so weak. > > HOPE these experiences help you to understand better. Truly a zombie thread! ---
**Author:** ![chargerrich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chargerrich/32/5399_2.png) [@chargerrich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chargerrich)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-through-the-heart-is-death-instantaneous/531511/30 "2013-01-31T14:56:53Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Well, it sure gives love a bad name. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-through-the-heart-is-death-instantaneous/531511/31 "2013-01-31T15:38:57Z")
Additional factor to consider: Someone can immediately pass out from a non-fatal injury or an injury which is not immediately fatal. Say I get shot in something vital and because of the pain and fear, I pass out for a few minutes. Within those few minutes, my brain is low on oxygen and starts shutting down, which prolongs my state of unconsciousness. After 5-10 minutes, my heart stops and I die. An outside observer who didn’t take my vitals within that timeframe would think I died instantly even though my death took some time. ---
**Author:** ![jcc449](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9e5f3/32.png) [@jcc449](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jcc449)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-through-the-heart-is-death-instantaneous/531511/32 "2013-01-31T16:53:24Z")
One more story to share about the Execution Stories in Taiwan. There was once, a death row got hit 4 times in heart position before he die. That’s because this death row has a very rare heart position and his heart located on the right side of chest instead of left. The executor was very confused and couldn’t figure out how come the heart shot didn’t kill that guy and caused that dead row extremely pain. So the executor fires 2 more shot on the “regular heart position” and the victim still remain alive and struggling extremely. Finally, they found out this death row has irregular heart position (heart located in inverted position) and they finally execute him successfully at the end. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-through-the-heart-is-death-instantaneous/531511/33 "2013-01-31T17:02:21Z")
> [@jcc449](#): > > One more story to share about the Execution Stories in Taiwan. > > There was once, a death row got hit 4 times in heart position before he die. > That’s because this death row has a very rare heart position and his heart located on the right side of chest instead of left. > > The executor was very confused and couldn’t figure out how come the heart shot didn’t kill that guy and caused that dead row extremely pain. > > So the executor fires 2 more shot on the “regular heart position” and the victim still remain alive and struggling extremely. > > Finally, they found out this death row has irregular heart position (heart located in inverted position) and they finally execute him successfully at the end. All’s well that ends well. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-through-the-heart-is-death-instantaneous/531511/34 "2013-01-31T17:24:28Z")
> [@jcc449](#): > > Finally, they found out this death row has irregular heart position (heart located in inverted position) and they finally execute him successfully at the end. Do you have a cite for this (or at least the name of the guy)? I ask because while heart is kind of lopsided so it extends to the left a bit more than the right, the bulk of the heart is pretty much in the centre of the chest. If the guy’s anatomy was so strange that a shot to the centre of the chest wouldn’t get it, that’s a little more than “inverted”. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-through-the-heart-is-death-instantaneous/531511/35 "2013-01-31T19:14:05Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > All’s well that ends well. Michael, this post here is one of the sickest posts I’ve ever read, and therefore, one of the most hilarious. Thank you for a deeply satisfying belly laugh! ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-through-the-heart-is-death-instantaneous/531511/36 "2013-01-31T20:33:26Z")
After nearly three years has no one thought to post “Need Answer Fast?” 😕 ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-through-the-heart-is-death-instantaneous/531511/37 "2013-01-31T20:37:25Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > After nearly three years has no one thought to post > > “Need Answer Fast?” > > 😕 After three years, there’s no longer a hurry. ---
**Author:** ![jcc449](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9e5f3/32.png) [@jcc449](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jcc449)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-through-the-heart-is-death-instantaneous/531511/38 "2013-02-03T16:54:53Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > Do you have a cite for this (or at least the name of the guy)? I ask because while heart is kind of lopsided so it extends to the left a bit more than the right, the bulk of the heart is pretty much in the centre of the chest. If the guy’s anatomy was so strange that a shot to the centre of the chest wouldn’t get it, that’s a little more than “inverted”. Ya. but it’s in Chinese since it’s happened in Taiwan lol. [http://www.nownews.com/2010/03/13/138-2579421.htm](http://www.nownews.com/2010/03/13/138-2579421.htm) This is this guy’s photo [http://www.nownews.com/newspic/1326/i1326209.jpg](http://www.nownews.com/newspic/1326/i1326209.jpg) this guy kill two soldiers and stole their rifles and kidnapping a lot of people. He is famous that his heart located at right instead of left and the executor shot him 5 times to end his life ( 4 times on the left chest). ---
**Author:** ![jcc449](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9e5f3/32.png) [@jcc449](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jcc449)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-through-the-heart-is-death-instantaneous/531511/39 "2013-02-03T16:58:26Z")
Here is more video and pics of his corpse … ( of course no details and bloody things) [http://www.appledaily.com.tw/appledaily/article/headline/20100501/32479788/](http://www.appledaily.com.tw/appledaily/article/headline/20100501/32479788/) ---
**Author:** ![jcc449](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9e5f3/32.png) [@jcc449](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jcc449)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-through-the-heart-is-death-instantaneous/531511/40 "2013-02-03T17:07:26Z")
This is a X-Ray photo shows the inverted Heart position. [http://www.sciencephoto.com/image/81836/350wm/C0017435-Inverted\_heart\_and\_pacemaker,\_X-ray-SPL.jpg](http://www.sciencephoto.com/image/81836/350wm/C0017435-Inverted_heart_and_pacemaker,_X-ray-SPL.jpg) As u can see, if you shoot a person at anywhere at the left chest won’t injury the heart of this person. however , in the normal situation, any regular people would got heart shot for the same position. OF COURSE if you shoot right in the middle you “should” able to kill either way, but most of time, people are taught that heart is not very much in the center, so the gunman usually aim a bit to the left chest instead of center. IN This X-Ray u can see the heart is actually shifting so much to the right (almost near the right nipple). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shot-through-the-heart-is-death-instantaneous/531511.md?page=1)