DIY dill shoots nail into brain (I shot myself, Pneumatic Nailer Control NOW!)

Sunday Herald Sun (Australia) ^ | March 7, 2004 | By Sue Hewitt

[Gordon Pym]

DIY dill shoots nail into brain

By Sue Hewitt
March 7, 2004


BRAD Shorten admits he is a fool who is lucky to be alive.

He was skylarking with mates over a few beers and took what he thought was an empty nail gun and pointed it at his head.

The Victorian father of three fired a 3.2cm nail through his skull into his brain, just behind his temple. A centimetre deeper and Mr Shorten, 33, could have been dead or paralysed.

The Sunbury bricklayer's labourer thought the firing mechanism had glanced his skin, leaving a small red dot, not realising the nail had been counter-sunk into his skull.

Mr Shorten said he had used the nail gun to install wall panelling in his home, but had turned off the compressor and removed the nail cartridge.

"My mates and I were talking about construction site accidents and taking your eye out with a nail gun, and I foolishly put the gun to my head and pulled the trigger," he said.

Although the compressor was disconnected, there was still pressure in the hose and it shot the nail into his skull.

"The nail was recessed into the skull, just like it is recessed into the timber," he said.

Mr Shorten had minimal pain, but started to feel light headed. His son, Nathan, 13, insisted on calling an ambulance.

"At hospital the pain got worse, and I was getting frustrated so I asked (nurses) for a pair of pliers to pull it out myself," he said.

That would have been the worst thing to do, according to Dr Kevin Siu, a Royal Melbourne Hospital neurosurgeon. Dr Siu said there was a risk that removing the nail would cause a blood vessel to hemorrhage, possibly causing death.

The surgeon said had the nail been a centimetre deeper or had it been angled backwards, Mr Shorten risked a stroke, permanent brain damage or paralysis. In a four-hour operation, a specialist team took a part of his skull off and removed the nail.

Mr Shorten said he was recovering from surgery and was expected to make a full recovery.

"I did a very stupid thing," he said.


The Victorian Injury Surveillance and Applied Research unit has found a growing trend of people, mainly men, injuring themselves doing stunts or tricks. In the six years to December 2002, 82 people suffered such injuries.

Sunday Herald Sun

[Gordon Pym]

OK I'll start

At least his head was not a vital organ.

Anybody got a claw hammer?

[martin_fierro]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1092261/posts

[Ole Okie]

At least it was neatly driven and set. Ready for putty to conceal the small hole.

[Kieri]

Trepanning is usually done in the center of the forehead! This guy is a serious bonebrain... ;-)

[Darksheare]

He zapped himself with a nailgun and suffered no ill effects?
*shudders*
I dunno, if I'D zapped myself with a nailgun and never suffered any ill effects, I certainly wouldn't like my name printed in the news, I'd make SURE I was dead first.

[Sidebar Moderator]

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[Arpege92]

Talk about nailing it right on the head!

[Gordon Pym]

I'll bet he was hammered at the time

[GreenHornet]

Officials at ACME Corporation, makers of the ACME Pneumatic Nail Gun, declined comment, citing an ongoing product liability suit filed against the company by film star Wile E. Coyote.

[Joe 6-pack]

"Next week, will put the ole belt-sander to work on our genitals..."

[StriperSniper]

"I did a very stupid thing," he said.

Luckily, he hit the part of his brain he was obviously not using. ;-)

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Ouch!

[Arpege92]

"I'll bet he was hammered at the time."

Yep, it was definately a screwed up situation!

[#3Fan]

Sorry to interupt the thread.

Link.

Explanation on the way in private reply.

[Gordon Pym]

Thank Heaven he didn't have a hot glue gun

[billhilly]

Oh, stop pissin about little nail holes in a mate or two. We have millions of people in the good old USofA who have shot themselves in the brain, and they believe themselves to be perfectly well. They call themselves liberals, and they seem proud of it.

[Arpege92]

"Thank Heaven he didn't have a hot glue gun."

Yea, he could have been charged with possesion of a sticky weapon!

[Gordon Pym]

"Thank Heaven he didn't have a hot glue gun."

Yea, he could have been charged with possesion of a sticky weapon!

but he would have thought he was a real hot shot.

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

beer and nailguns what a great way to thin the heard

[Arpege92]

"but he would have thought he was a real hot shot."

Naaa....he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with a Bazooka!