Oregon Man Survives 12 Nails to the Head PORTLAND, Ore. - An Oregon man who went to a hospital complaining of a headache was found to have 12 nails embedded in his skull from a suicide attempt with a nail gun, doctors say. Surgeons removed the nails with needle-nosed pliers and a drill, and the man survived with no serious lasting effects, according to a report on the medical oddity in the current issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery. The unidentified 33-year-old man was suicidal and high on methamphetamine last year when he fired the nails into his head one by one. The nails were not visible when doctors first examined the man in the emergency room of an unidentified Oregon hospital a day later. Doctors were surprised when X-rays revealed six nails clustered between his right eye and ear, two below his right ear and four on the left side of his head. No one before is known to have survived after intentionally firing so many foreign objects into the head, according to the report, written by Dr. G. Alexander West, the neurosurgeon who oversaw the treatment of the patient. The man at first told doctors he had had a nail gun accident, but later admitted it was a suicide attempt. The nails came close to major blood vessels and the brain stem but did not pierce them. The patient was in remarkably good condition when he was transferred to Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, where the nails were removed. The patient was later transferred to psychiatric care and stayed under court order for nearly a month before leaving against doctors' orders.
It could have been worse. He could have been forced to watch the last 3 weeks of Rocket basketball... Someone had to do it.
some people just plain suck at suicide. here's some tips: 1) aim for and hit vital parts of the body (heart, brain). 2) cut along the vein, not across. 3) jump onto something hard, not into water (especially if you then try and swim out).
Well this guy I guess answered the question. How many nails do you put into your head before you decide it isn't going to work?
Not to play down the seriousness but apparently this happens quite often. There was a big photo-essay in JAMA a few years back of all the freaky x-rays of people with crap in their cranium.
A bizarre xray made it's way around when I was with Blue Cross years ago. A guy placed the nail gun beside his eye and fired, but h*ll that was only one nail. Gave him a bad headache though.
