Man walks around for weeks with unknown bullet in his head

[Jenny]

Earlier this month, some guy was driving down Kellogg (or Woodlawn, not sure which) with his windows down. Suddenly felt a stinging behind his ear. Reached back and there was some blood. Went to the dr, dr put a bandaid on and said he thought it was just a rock that had flown in and dinged him.

Give it a couple of weeks and the guy goes back in cause he's been having headaches & other stuff. Dr sticks a needle in to biopsy it (wtf, but ok) and it makes a pinging sound. Figures out it's a BULLET FRAGMENT. the guy was ****ing SHOT as he drove

Now, here's the funniest part: Police are asking anyone who was shooting a gun in the Kellogg & Woodlawn area on May 7th (or whatever date it was) to give them a call....

...

who in their right mind is going to call up and admit that they were shooting off a gun there & then? :idea: :hmm:

[johnnymk]

So does the Darwin award go to the guy who was shot, the doctor or to the police?

[mojo]

So does the Darwin award go to the guy who was shot, the doctor or to the police?
can't blame the guy who was shot. i'd say the dr at this point. but i'd be interested in linkage to the story for more info.

[AlwayzMarel]

yeah is there a link?

[Jenny]

OH, was about to say no, there wasn't, but here! lol

http://www.ksn.com/news/stories/12951433.html

[bachviet]

Darwin award could be shared between the guy and his doctor. :D

[Jenny]

lol why the guy?

[Airencracken]

ugh. the darwin award is only for people that die or sterilize themselves.

[bachviet]

lol why the guy?
If he can't tell something enters his body, he probably deserves the award.

[Markel]

If he can't tell something enters his body, he probably deserves the award.
Guess you've never heard of shock.

[johnnymk]

Guess you've never heard of shock.

Really? People forget things when something like this happens?

[SecretIkon]

can't blame the guy who was shot. i'd say the dr at this point.

Definitely blaming the doctor. I have a headache and some bleeding behind the ear and all you give me is a bandaid.

[Markel]

Really? People forget things when something like this happens?
No - the trauma can mask the feeling. I can't blame the guy for not realizing he had been hit by a bullet. I tend to put a bit more blame on the doctor, but I doubt that someone coming in unaware that they had a bullet in them is something the doctor would tend to suspect, either.

[esme]

:heh: .....i'd read it as .....

"Man walks around for weeks with unknown MULLET in his head"

oops!!

[dougadam]

Im starting to lose faith in the so called professionals.

[ShawnLee]

:heh: .....i'd read it as .....

"Man walks around for weeks with unknown MULLET in his head"

oops!!Hey, to be fair, I once chose not to cut my hair for a while, and grew a mullet purely without realizing it.

[oblongmelon]

Hey, to be fair, I once chose not to cut my hair for a while, and grew a mullet purely without realizing it.

business in the front, party in the back :laugh:

[Houdini]

If the guy just felt a sting behind his ear, with no sense of impact, it could have been a random bullet from a long distance with very little residual kinetic energy. So he didn't notice and didn't think to bring that up with the doc. ER docs see a LOT of patients every day, and every little sting in the head or headache doesn't always merit an xray or ct scan. Sure, both of those would have shown the bullet like a glowing Christmas tree at midnight, but without suspicion of a shooting, even admitted by the victim, I really can't blame the doc too much. I'd probably done the same thing, especially if the guy is otherwise asymptomatic other than mild headaches, and if there is a code or major trauma in the next room.

Medicine isn't perfect, and expecting all docs to be psychic isn't realistic. You go by the info you have and consider the merits cost/benifit/etc., of doing every little test.

Based on the fact that it was a fragment and that he only felt a stinging, I'm guessing .22 from 100 yards or so. Sure, .22 cal can theoritically kill someone at a mile, but with usual plinking loads, especially from a pistol (most likely in this case), a good distance and a stray bullet (nobody believes that the guy was the target - otherwise he'd likely be dead,) I can see how that GSW may have been overlooked. Neurologists often MRI new onset headaches, which, depending on round composition, could be pretty bad. Some hospitals send everyone to CT if there is one available. Others don't due to cost constraints, especially if the hospital is limping along like some are here. I'd probably poke around in the wound, consider a head x-ray, and that's about it. If the bullet fragged, removing it would require surgery anyway.

[MJordanash]

lol, wow, pretty funny in a weird way. You'd think you'd get shot and feel some serious friggen pain. I have driven down those roads a few times, I'll remember to duck next time :)

[molecularfire]

Kinda weird but while the brain is good at detecting pain in the rest of the body, it does a miserable job of detecting pain in itself... very few pain receptors and none (as far as I know) in the brain itself. If there is no swelling (bullets go pretty fast if I remember correctly so should be pretty sterile by the time they hit the skin) I doubt anybody could feel that there was a bullet in their head.

I wasn't there when the doctor examined him so I can't say whether the doctor screwed up or not (either ways, I don't think he deserves the darwin award technically because he didn't remove himself from the gene pool, he just missed a diagnosis) but the guy definitely does NOT deserve the darwin award.

[Houdini]

Kinda weird but while the brain is good at detecting pain in the rest of the body, it does a miserable job of detecting pain in itself... very few pain receptors and none (as far as I know) in the brain itself. If there is no swelling (bullets go pretty fast if I remember correctly so should be pretty sterile by the time they hit the skin) I doubt anybody could feel that there was a bullet in their head.

I wasn't there when the doctor examined him so I can't say whether the doctor screwed up or not (either ways, I don't think he deserves the darwin award technically because he didn't remove himself from the gene pool, he just missed a diagnosis) but the guy definitely does NOT deserve the darwin award.

Yup, the tissue around the skull is not that well innervated in certain areas, and the skull itself is just bone, so a small fragment in the bone may cause temporary pain, but it should go away. If it had penetrated the skull, he might have some meningial pain, which would be like an excruciating migraine from hell, but if it actually ended up in the brain, it wouldn't cause pain at all.

A quick skull x-ray would have shown it, but if the doc thought it was just a stray rock or something, didn't see any frank swelling, and the hole wasn't perfectly round (unlikely that it was, depending on distance, b/c bullets tend to tumble as they lose speed), I can see where the doc would do a quick exam prescribe some pain meds, and tell the guy to come back if it starts swelling or if he has increased pain. With a living guy with a strange cut/lac/or linear hole in his skin, your index of suspicion of a gunshot wound would be pretty damn low.

[Markel]

With a living guy with a strange cut/lac/or linear hole in his skin, your index of suspicion of a gunshot wound would be pretty damn low.unless he was a soldier in a hot zone.

[Houdini]

unless he was a soldier in a hot zone.

Touche! But, short of Baghdad, Baghram, Kabul, or some areas in any major US city, your index of suspicion would be pretty low. :)

Plus in those areas overseas, and some here, a rifle bullet, most likely a 7.62 X 39mm would have made the hole. Then it would probably look nasty. Then again, it would have blown apart the guy's head, even at a longer range than the presumed .22.

H <---saw 3 GSWs in the ER last night. No penetration though. Two were body shots that happened to glance off shoulder bones, and one was a through and through leg shot that missed all major vessels and nerves. Classic entrance and exit patterns ~9mm. Which means it could have been a .38, .380, or 9mm. No stippling though or powder marks, and the woman didn't even know who shot her or from what direction. She was damn lucky though. A couple of sutures and bandaids for a GSW. Nice.