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“Shots to roughly 80 percent of targets on the body would not be fatal blows” and that “if a gunshot victim’s heart is still beating upon arrival at a hospital, there is a 95 percent chance of survival”

One Bullet Can Kill, but Sometimes 20 Don’t, Survivors Show

A man in North Carolina was shot roughly 20 times in 1995 and lived to tell about it. The rapper 50 Cent was shot nine times in 2000 and has since released three albums. And in 2006, Joseph Guzman survived 19 gunshot wounds during the 50-shot fusillade by police detectives that killed Sean Bell.

While surviving numerous gunshots could be a miraculous feat, doctors who have treated gunshot victims say that being shot is not automatically a death sentence.

When major organs — the heart and brain especially — and blood vessels are avoided, the chances of survival are good, they said. The catch, of course, is that there is no science to preventing a bullet from hitting a vital part of the body.

“It’s a matter of total, straight luck… Continue Reading


Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/03/nyregion/03shot.html