About Curtis J. Edwards, MD, FACS Expertise Can answer general and vascular surgery questions, trauma, burns, some plastic surgery questions, general gastrointestinal surgery and gastrointestinal medical questions and questions regarding aviation medicine.
Experience Board certified general surgeon. Seventeen years practice experience in general, vascular, and no-cardiac thoracic surgery and endoscopy.
Organizations College of Surgeons, AMA, Aerospace Medical Assoc., Civil Aviation Medical Assoc.
Education/Credentials BA, MD, American Board of Surgery, Fellow American College of Surgeons, seventeen years practice all phases, including teaching.
Question I don't know if you can answer this. If not it would most appreciated if you could perhaps advise me on where I could find it out. Basically I'm working on a piece of historical fiction in which there is a character who fathers a child despite being fatally wounded. I was just wondering how possible this would be. Could someone potentially have some kind of fatal injury and yet be able to have sex? And whereabouts on the body could there be such a wound that would be fatal, yet not immediately fatal? Thanks!
Answer An injury that is rapidly fatal would cause shock effectively preventing penile erection. A fatal disease or a slow acting poison on the other hand... A historical piece should account for the lack of asepsis and antibiotics. Sterile technique only became common place at the turn of the last century. An infected toe cold lead to gangrene which could lead to death without amputation of the lower extremity. Even with an amputation the surgery itself might cause further infection, gangrene and death. See Semmelweis and puerperal sepsis. There would be plenty of time to engage in sexual congress with a wound that becomes infected, then gangrenous.
