Charlie Kirk’s gunshot deemed ‘not survivable’ by medical expert

Charlie Kirk’s gunshot deemed “not survivable” by CNN medical expert.

“When I saw the video initially, I thought that was a non-survivable wound for two reasons. One was the massive quantity of blood that issued forth from the wound immediately. And also, the fact that Mr. Kirk immediately slumped over, suggesting perhaps that the bullet also hit his spinal cord. The neck contains two large blood vessels on either side: the carotid artery, which takes blood up to the brain, and the internal jugular vein that brings blood back from the head.

“And the head gets a tremendous amount of cardiac output because the brain is so key. So with a wound that size, you can lose a tremendous volume of blood very quickly. You can lose a liter or two liters a minute of blood.

“And all the initial attempts to try and salvage the life of Mr. Kirk would have been focused on trying to contain the bleeding, put packing into the wound, hold pressure on the wound until he could get to a trauma center and have more definitive therapy.

“It sounds like he might have, they might have tried, you know, surgical intervention. And he might have held on for as long as he did because he was only 31 years old. But the massive amount of blood coming forth suggests that his internal jugular and/or his carotid were basically blown apart by the impact.”

— Dr. Jonathan Reiner, Professor of Medicine and Surgery, George Washington University