Headshot
The headshot is an injury to the head from the projectile of a firearm , a cause of death, and also a method of execution .
Effect and consequences
The injuries depend on the type, speed and direction of flight of the projectile .
Long-range shots from modern handguns usually leave only a relatively small wound at the point of entry, sometimes with torn skin edges. On the exit side, however, the visible wound is usually large and irregular. It can be difficult to distinguish between close-up and attached shots. Small projectiles ( shotgun pellets ) and slow ricochets can get stuck in the head, larger projectiles can fragment when hitting the bone. A punch defect (with a smaller diameter on the entry side) or a flat fracture can occur on the skull bone .
Nail guns cause similar head injuries in accidents and suicides, but the tissue tears from the blunt bolts are worse than with conical or pointed projectiles.
Headshots are often fatal. Above all, hits in the deep brain structures ( diencephalon , brain stem , medulla oblongata ) immediately lead to respiratory and circulatory arrest. More peripheral brain damage can initially be survived, sometimes the victim even remains conscious. However, cerebral edema and severe bleeding soon develop , which can be fatal due to compression of the brain stem. Infections , thromboses and air embolisms also occur in people who survive the first few hours . The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) is a prognostic measure . With GCS less than 5 there is practically no chance of survival.
Occurrence
In armed conflicts, a third of the losses in the field are caused by head injuries. In civil life it is mostly violent crimes and suicides ; in the United States, 40% of all fatal head injuries are from firearms. Depending on the proportion of suicides, the mortality from these head injuries is between 52 and 95%.
In some countries, such as China , those sentenced to death are executed by shot in the head.
In situations of acute threat to life and limb, the police are also entitled to kill violent criminals with the final rescue shot in the head. This is the case, for example, in the case of hostage-taking , when those affected are directly exposed to the risk of death or serious injury and this cannot be averted otherwise.
A headshot by the South Vietnamese general Nguyễn Ngọc Loan on the NFB fighter Nguyễn Văn Lém during the Tet offensive in Saigon on February 1, 1968 , became world famous . The photo of this execution on the street, taken by Eddie Adams , is one of the most famous the Vietnam War and the modern war in general.
See also
literature
- Bizhan Aarabi, Howard H. Kaufman: Missile Wounds of the Head and Neck . Thieme, January 1, 1999, ISBN 978-1-879284-64-7 (accessed June 14, 2013).
- Joseph A. Prahlow: Forensic Pathology for Police, Death Investigators, Attorneys, and Forensic Scientists . Springer, 2010, ISBN 978-1-59745-404-9 (accessed June 14, 2013).
- Friedrich Unterharnscheidt: Traumatology of the brain and spinal cord . Springer DE, January 1993, ISBN 978-3-642-58015-4 (accessed June 14, 2013).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ according to Unterharnscheidt, 1993.
- ↑ RS Martins, MG Siqueira et al. a .: Prognostic factors and treatment of penetrating gunshot wounds to the head. In: Surgical Neurology . Volume 60, Number 2, August 2003, pp. 98-104, ISSN 0090-3019 . PMID 12900108 .
- ↑ U. Katzenell, N. Ash et al. a .: Analysis of the causes of death of casualties in field military setting. In: Military medicine. Vol. 177, No. 9, September 2012, pp. 1065-1068, ISSN 0026-4075 . PMID 23025136 .
- ↑ according to Aarabi, 1999.
- ↑ JV Rosenfeld: Gunshot injury to the head and spine. In: Journal of clinical neuroscience: official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia. Volume 9, Number 1, January 2002, pp. 9-16, ISSN 0967-5868 . doi : 10.1054 / jocn.2001.0949 . PMID 11749010 . (Review).
- ↑ Shot at dawn! capitalpunishment.com