So, I started (again) editing my 2005 Nano Novel.
Any suggestions on a good site for medical refernces for writers?
I need to describe a fatal bullet wound to the back (from a distance) and I need to talk about what would be used to sedate a patient in rehab center that didn't really need to be sedated.
I want to delete my NaNo novel... but I can't quite
Have you checked wikipedia? It's a pain but almost anything you want is on there.
Sometimes places like webmd.com will have a bit of info on treatment for various disorders. Describing a gunshot wound, though...you'd probably just hafta search on that, I guess. Looking for where it would need to hit to be fatal? Or just a description of what the bullet would do?
*sigh* I *love* medical details, and I really wish I knew more than I do.
What kind of bullet? A large-bore rifle bullet will do some interesting things with hydrostatic shock (exploding ventricles and such) whereas a handgun bullet, say, a .357 hollow point, will do some very artistic expanding tissue disruption. Small-bore rifle bullets (like a .223) tend to bounce around inside the ribcage doing all manner of spirograph designs in the wound channel.
So... it depends... :-)
Evenin' folkses...
[sip]
Since i'm forever writing about guns, knives, and the people who love them, here's what I found:
Body Trauma: A Writer's Guide To Wounds And Injuries
Cause of Death: A Writer's Guide to Death, Murder and Forensic Medicine
The Crime Writer’s Reference Guide
And I have HowStuffWorks on my favorites bar, right alongside A Handbook Of Texas.
oh I could go on all night...
unless it's a relatively small caliber rifle (5.56, .22) the bullet would likely pass thru the body... any bullet would be found outside the body...
a hollow point or soft point would leave small fragments of copper jacket and lead in the body...
if we're talking large caliber (.308, .30-06, 7MM) a hit in the upper chest/back, within 4" of center would be an instant kill in most cases... you've got the renal artery going down, aorta/caratoid going up... a hit on either of those would near instantaneous death... a lung hit would cause death within seconds, minutes at the most... traumatic spine hit would kill instantly, and even though it hits bone, a bullet over 120 gr would still almost always exit the body...