Why are bullets left in bodies?

LJ Punch, MD, trauma surgeon and director of the Bullet Related Injury Clinic (BRIC) in St. Louis, discusses how the dogmatic practice of leaving bullets in patients can be harmful to the mind and body. #shorts #bulletrelatedinjury #gunviolence #gunviolenceawareness #traumasurgeon #medicalnews

[@Gracie40]

I’m an operating room nurse. There are numerous situations that I personally have been in where bullets have been in people for years only to have them removed due some issue developing later such as nerve or bone issues. They were removed but not due to infection.

[@WWTormentor]

Usually unless the object is causing any harm to vital organs or nerves or blood vessels, we do not remove them unless they can be safely removed without causing harm to other vital organs and structures. For example, when there are multiple shrapnels that enter the body, many times the amount of incisions and tissue damage that can be caused from removing all of them, is not worth removing them.

[@papajeff5486]

Old retired anesthesia vet of two foreign wars here, experienced with literally hundreds of war injuries. Not all bullets and shrapnel are left in the bodies. If the injuries might be made worse, if infection is likely to increase…then sometimes they’re left. So, the old story about leaving bullets in the body, is challenged, by war surgeons, whenever necessary.

[@hilaryhamm9161]

I do not want to get an MRI with bullets or shrapnel inside of me. So yes let's get th!t stuff out. Especially since you don't know what germs were on the debris that got dragged inside with that bullet. Yeah?

[@sheilalindenstein8263]

Lead poisoning

[@mjb3694]

😅😅😅 lol ammo made of lead..lol😊😂😅😅

[@scottfaucher5412]

Because SOMETIMES it's too detrimental to go in & dig for them. They will seed themselves, scar tissue will grow around them & u'll probably NEVER have a problem from it. My husband was shot TWICE in a carjacking & BOTH bullet's were left inside. NO Metal Detector's didn't go off at the airport & no never had an issue from them. Your's Truly Gen X Woman Mom and Wife 🕊️ P. S. They DID follow the path of the bullets & cleaned it out, make sure there's NO debris, bone & shards/metal from the bullet

[@user-eb4hb4yy7c]

If there is a significant risk that the bullet will cause further damage by being left in situ it will be removed. In the vast majority of cases the risk of further injury by retrieval of the bullet overwhelmingly outweighs the risk of leaving it. Terribly sorry this guy didn't pay attention in Med School.

[@JayWilkins-zh7fx]

Its stayed true and common because especially in war because of the geneva convention forces use full metal jacket ammo which doesent fragment upon impact of the body leaving less chances that something got somewhere besides the main wound track and could cause damage over time combined with the fact that modern weapons use aerodynamicaly formed bullets instead of musket balls which creates even less tissue damage and also the modern rounds have a high chance of complete pass-through so for most bullet wounds that arent messin with internal organs your gonna be fine if you keep it clean, get the blood to clot, and properly dress the wound. I got shot in the calf with a snaller caliber like a 22 or maybe a 38 as a kid just a random round hit me no idea who it wss where it came from nothing people were shooting 100 maybe 150yarss in the distance and one must of missed the burm and got me but it didnt even knock me down it was just like a really bad bee sting, i went owie for a few seconds saw a little hole and blood and walked home thinking it was a bbgun or something although the hole was big enough to stick pinkey in but i just dumped iso on it, some disinfectant powder, took some tweasers to see if i could feel anything to pull out but it was way to deep so i just used some super glue to seal the wound and changed my bandages daily and i was as good as new and you know 13 years later i have no problems lol

[@farfromirrational948]

OK rambo

[@mageckman]

I beg to differ on the musket rounds doing less damage. First off, most musket balls are between 62 and 76 caliber. 62 is a little over half an inch across, and 76 is right around three quarters of an inch across. That is quite a bit of lead. If you are using a minie or a maxi ball in the musket, then that makes that chunk of lead that much bigger. Second, when those chunks of lead make contact with something or someone after being fired, they flatten. They will sometimes even fragment upon flattening. Those flattened chunks of lead create a much larger path than most modern bullets that will stay together and are much smaller.

[@RayArias]

Too bad the doctors that messed with Presidents Garfield and McKinley didn't get that memo.

[@lannybrasher2452]

I've got two bullets in my chest for over 42 years now. Never caused any issues that lm aware of.

[@rudispruell883]

If it was just born, wouldn't it be a puppyma?

[@user-gl6py1ni2h]

The body will encapsulate the bullet or shrapnel in some cases and will never be an issue. This was the case with Garfield it was the digging with un sterilized tools that killed him.

[@leoniea138]

Huh ? Now why is this not making sense

[@mhudzinski1]

1700's pasteurization, rabies vaccine, small pox vaccine, cardiac circulation, germ theory of disease, shall I go on with things we use/do in medicine based on observation in the 1700's.

[@Gracie40]

I’m an operating room nurse. There are numerous situations that I personally have been in where bullets have been in people for years only to have them removed due some issue developing later such as nerve or bone issues. They were removed but not due to infection.