Expert: Pattie Richardson - 10/28/2009

Question
My sister was shot 33 years ago, I just got the police report. Her blood alcohol was .27 and she was shot with a 38 caliber and the bullet entered her right lung, she died at the scene. If she wasn't so intoxicated could she has survived. i feel the alcohol played a big role in her not surviving. Here is what is on the autopsy "wound on the right side of the chest enters the chest cavity through the upper portion of the second rib. It penetrates the upper lobe of the right lung, passes through the upper portion of the lower lobe of the right lung, and strikes the 10th rib near the junction with the vertebral column. the angulation is approx. 30 degrees downwards and slightly medially. The bullet appears to have ricocheted after striking the rib then exiting the body. Within the right hemithorax there is approx. 1500cc's of blood. The right lung is partly collapsed. [On the right side of the back beneath the skin a bullet is palpable. Dissection into the skin at this point reveals a fairly large caliber bullet which is lead colored and quite well preserved]

Answer
No, alcohol in this case did not affect the outcome unless she was shot because of something she did while very drunk. She basically "bled out". This means she lost so much blood, she could not have survive whether she was sober or drunk. She lost blood in her upper chest causing her lung to partially collapsed.

Alcohol is a blood thinner, but in this case she had too much internal damage.

I am sorry for your lost.

Pattie