Another gruesome question: A knife wound to the chest

underthecity · Jan 11, 2008

Some of you may recall when I posted about this scene in Novel Writing where a character accidentally gets stabbed in the chest with a knife.

Now I need to know what damage it would do.

The knife is described as going into his chest right below the breastbone, between the ribs, I guess.

How long would he live? What organs are damaged? How fast would the bleeding be? What do you suppose it would feel like?

allen

slcboston · Jan 11, 2008

Uh, wait, below the breastbone? That wouldn't be between the ribs at all, would it? In fact, that would be more the gut level - and very nasty, too. (Your breastbone is your sternum - think back to your CPR classes if you've ever taken them.)

Now, as for sliding a knife between the ribs... well, it won't be pretty, but depending on where you stab, how fast the get medical treatment, etc, it'll make a big difference. If the knife only punctures a lung, it'll hurt, but it won't be immediately fatal. On the other hand, if you knick an artery, or puncture the heart, well, then you've got a much bigger problem.

As for what it would feel like, there would be the pressure from the initial wound, then the pain. Lots and lots of pain. Like getting punched in the chest, and then it hurts more.

slcboston · Jan 11, 2008

Also, how big a knife are we talking about? Paring knife, switchblade, Crocodile Dundee "This is a knife" big... it makes a difference. Details, details, details.

ColoradoGuy · Jan 11, 2008

You could do pretty much whatever you wanted. A knife thrust below the sternum and directed upwards could easily avoid the stomach (or liver) and get the heart, lungs, or both. For example, the way we stick a needle into the pericardium (the sack surrounding the heart) is to insert the needle from just below the sternum and aim at the left shoulder. As slcboston noted, the symptoms of a collapsed lung (pneumothorax) are mainly those of breathing problems. A wound to the heart or either of the great vessels coming from the heart causes pretty instant death from bleeding, but even that can be manipulated as your story needs. I once cared for a child who arrived in the ER with a wooden stick protruding from his chest that went into his heart; we took him to the operating room, put him on cardio-pulmonary bypass, and took out the stick. He did fine.

underthecity · Jan 11, 2008

The knife is six, eight inches long. And yeah, it goes in right below the sternum. Which I guess is below the ribcage.

I didn't take much biology in school. Disected a frog once.

allen

slcboston · Jan 11, 2008

underthecity said:
The knife is six, eight inches long. And yeah, it goes in right below the sternum. Which I guess is below the ribcage.

I didn't take much biology in school. Disected a frog once.

allen

Knife? that's a small sword.

(And I only know about the breastbone from all those CSI shows where they have to crack it open with that really wicked saw and tools...

)

Pretty much at that length, unless you're character's really lucky, they're in for some serious trouble and/or pain. Gut wounds are slower, but really painful, and prone to infection and post-operative complications. Especially if it's a stabbing. Without medical assistance, you're going to die, most likely.

An upward thrust... again depends on what it hits.

With a knife that big, if it were me and I was trying to stab someone... just saying... I'd stab, and then twist it. Much more likely to get someone that way.

underthecity · Jan 11, 2008

Slc,

Thanks for the info. It's kind of what I expected. Plotwise, the knife gets accidentally pushed into his chest, and he knows it's fatal and that he's going to die. I wasn't sure how long that would take.

(I also have to give a logical reason for the knife's presence. I have not done that yet.)

The crazy part is when he decided to pull it out. More blood is going to come out, but would it be spurting, running, trickling? (And yeah, I've been writing some weird shit.)

allen

Horseshoes · Jan 11, 2008

You can write blood coming out as spurting or trickling because both scenarios are possible.
Don't write that the sternum is below the ribcage, however. The ribs join the sternum at the center of your chest.
An eight inch blade entering just inferior to the sternum could actually puncture the spinal cord on a small enough adult.
It is impossible to say how long it would 'take to die' as the injury could be survivable or could kill someone within minutes, depends on exactly what got damaged. Two stab wounds starting in the same location with very slight scenario variation-- a bit different blade angle, the victim taking a large breath v. exhaling, twisting away, the stabber being taller-- make all the diff.

ColoradoGuy · Jan 12, 2008

Just do what your plot needs. Spurting/no spurting would just depend on the entry site in the skin. People can bleed out with only minimal blood coming through the skin hole--it can just be filling up the chest or abdominal cavities. The phenomenon of worse bleeding when the object is pulled is common, though, which is why we don't pull anything protruding from someone out in the ER--they go to the operating room and we do it there, ready to intervene as needed.

The symptoms a person bleeding to death would experience would be lightheadedness, followed by a faint, followed by deeper unconsciousness, followed by death. The speed of those things progressing would depend upon the speed of the bleeding.

Another gruesome question: A knife wound to the chest

underthecity

Finestkind

slcboston

Pasture-ized

slcboston

Pasture-ized

ColoradoGuy

I've seen worse.

underthecity

Finestkind

slcboston

Pasture-ized

underthecity

Finestkind

Horseshoes

lisapreston.com

ColoradoGuy

I've seen worse.