Blood flow anatomy question

There was a hockey player a few years back who survived getting his carotid slashed with no permanent side effects - I'm too sleepy to go find the link, but perhaps you could look into it further. Bottom line is that yes, it's survivable under certain conditions.

Nick a carotid artery, and there better be someone on hand to do some major first aid majorly fast. Depending on how bad the wound is, you're talking a matter of seconds before someone bleeds out on their own (like less than 30 at rest or 20 if panicked IIRC). There's something like an inch between the jugular and carotid, and by far the safest one to puncture is the jugular (with the carotid, the blood is pumping full force straight out of the heart, the amount of pressure required to propel blood through the body is high) The carotid is deeper in, though, so it's more likely that your guy would hit his jugular (there's one of each on each side of the neck).

If he's got good aim or good luck, it would be feasible that a knife blade turned sideways (rather than at its widest point) could slip between the two without damaging either.

I would think a deep wound that doesn't touch the important arteries mentioned above would be a lot like other deep wounds, blood-wise. So he would be OK for time if he put pressure on it, etc. The wound being higher than the heart might even make it less intense than the same wound near the foot (very bloody when walking with one, actually!)

Thomas, you might get a wider variety of useful responses if you ask your question in the Story Research forum.

Thomas, in ten minutes, I found, using Google, several references for the anatomy of the human neck, with discussion and drawings. What I learned: probing into the neck with a sharp instrument is not to be done without extreme caution, and unlikely to be without major trauma if done by someone not in the know.

Are you aware that Gray's Anatomy (the venerable illustrated tome of the human body*) is available online, for free?

Check out this page: Gray's Anatomy, Fig 558


*ETA: yes, written in 1918, but the human body hasn't changed much since, eh?

Hmmm... yeah, define deep If you just mean 'draws a lot of blood' that's one thing, but if it needs to penetrate far, I retract my above comment

My brother got cut in the neck by a broken beer bottle thrown at him, btw! Very bloody, but fortunately it missed the arteries. Totally terrifying to be bleeding profusely from the neck, he said!

Thomas_Anderson said:

He puts the knife in about a centimeter or two.

Click to expand...

Do check out the available illustrations of human neck anatomy. Two centimeters (about an inch) is certainly deep enough to do severe (and likely irreparable) damage.

Have you ever stuck a knife into you to the depth of an inch? I once tried to cut my palm (like you see in the movies) to produce blood for a stupid "blood brother" ritual the neighborhood kids were playing at. I chickened out at a depth of one or two millimeters! It really, really hurts a lot. I am forever amazed at the story of that guy who, trapped in a crevasse in the Utah desert, cut off his own arm to survive. And he waited till he was nearly dead to do that.

Accidental cuts are a surprise, especially if obtained during a fight or while struggling at something and can be fairly deep before noticing. But to inflict such injury on yourself, in as tender a place as your own neck? You would have to work very hard to suspend my disbelief.

You've got the external and internal jugulars, the external and internal carotids, you've got the spine, you've got the vagus nerve (cranial nerve X), you've got the phrenic nerve, you've got the trachea and the esophagus ... lots of important structures there.

Neck injuries aren't necessarily fatal (I've seen a guy who cut his own throat with a chainsaw, another who cut his throat with a cement saw, and another who was shot through the neck, all survive with minimal disruption) but they can be tricky.

Part of the problem is in controlling bleeding with direct pressure without inducing strangulation. Another problem is if you hit the jugular you can get a sucking neck wound, where air is drawn into circulation through the vein.

If all you have to do is pierce the flesh with the iron knife to break the enchantment, consider using some other area. If it has to be the neck, aim for the sterno-cleido-mastoid muscle, but be aware that the external jugular lies on top of it.

You know, honestly there is nothing wrong with tradgetys. If he HAS to stab himself in the neck there is no law out there that says he has to live. He just has to kill the bad guy. (or not depending on your story.)

But if you need to stab him, I hear the back of the neck in the straps are good. go in and keep close to the skin.