Bleeding to death

suckstosuck

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Im looking to have the victim die from blood loss after at least 10 minutes it can take longer I would just prefer no longer than 45.Where would the cut have to be or of what veins/arteries in order to match that time and not have him die in 1-2 minutes.

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espresso5

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What kind of first aid does the victim have available? What kind of knife are we dealing with? What activity is the victim engaged in (does he have to run or fight, or does he just have to lay there?)?
Femoral artery is a good one for most scenarios.
 

onesecondglance

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I know anecdotally that being shot in the stomach can result in a slow death, so perhaps the same is true of being stabbed. I could imagine that a wound to the spleen or liver would kill you, but not immediately.
 

MMcDonald64

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I know anecdotally that being shot in the stomach can result in a slow death, so perhaps the same is true of being stabbed. I could imagine that a wound to the spleen or liver would kill you, but not immediately.

I read of one guy from my town who was stabbed in the leg and bled to death before he could get to the hospital which wasn't that far away. I'm not sure how long it took for help to reach him initially, but from what I recall, it was average for a 911 call.

Another time I read about a guy who bled to death when he accidentally sliced his brachial artery while working on a car in his garage. He was alone, but I imagine it must have been quick if he couldn't even get to a phone to call for help before he passed out from blood loss.
 

Specval

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I'm not a doctor but the Cartoid artery in the neck could be nicked and your character could be smart enough to put pressure on it. That should drag the death to about 10 mins. Same could work for the Femoral artery.
 

areteus

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Femoral artery (according to a surgeon friend of mine) is a bugger to get cut... it is incredibly difficult to repair the femoral artery compared to others because the elasticity and tension on it means any wound is opened up even more making stitching it a pain.

For a long bleed, you need a venous cut, Arteries tend to spray because they are under pressure so you get a lot of blood loss in seconds. Blood loss from veins is more sedate and takes time.

And remember, you can only lose a certain amount of blood (can't remember the exact amount but I think it was 3 litres) before you enter what is known as 'irreversible shock' which is beyond the point where your own body can restore the lost fluids before you die. In those cases a tranfusion (or at least a short term infusion with a volume of sterile saline) is needed to save your life and even then it is chancy. In the case of arterial bleeds, this can happen very quickly.
 

HarryHoskins

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Classic radial in water or be taking aspirin before cut to stop clotting.
 

suckstosuck

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Thanks for the answers, I just wish they weren't all different lol.
 

Beachgirl

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My husband's cousin was stabbed to death after being involved in a car accident. The other driver pulled a knife and stabbed him several times in the abdomen. He had defensive cuts on his hands and arms, but cause of death was internal bleeding. He was still alive when the ambulance arrived, but died before getting to the hospital. I believe it was about 20-25 minutes after the incident.
 

jmare

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It really depends on the vessel, the extent of the damage, the physical activity, medical care, etc, etc, etc.

Realistically, and I am not a doctor, nurse, paramedic, EMT, whatever, an injury to either the femoral or the brachial arteries could reasonably take around 10 minutes. Of course, it can't be a severed artery (if you you either of those two) as a person will bleed out much faster. If you want to drag it out, stay away from the vessels in the neck and the aorta as those can bleed out the quickest.