Sándor Pellek PhD, chief medical officer of the Hungarian Armed Forces, gave an interview regarding the assassination attempt on Prime Minister Robert Fico.
We asked the specialist, who has also visited Afghanistan, about the nature and dangers of gunshot wounds, and in the process we also learned where the assassins aim most and whether a bulletproof vest would help the victim.
You took part in several NATO missions in Afghanistan, and you also encountered gunshot wounds firsthand. What is your experience with these types of wounds?
Gunshot injuries are always to be treated as the most serious injuries, especially in the operational area, because the work is done there with high-energy weapons. These devices have an extraordinary tissue-damaging effect, therefore, parallel to the special surgical treatment of the injured, due to the possibility of serious tissue infections, additional antibiotic treatment is also necessary.
What does it mean for a weapon to have high energy?
Each projectile has a structure that allows it to leave the weapon with the correct initial velocity. Bullets from handguns usually leave the gun barrel with a low initial velocity, and from larger weapons with a huge initial velocity and hit the living body. The latter is the high energy weapon.
By the way, what factors depend on how serious a gunshot wound is?
It is very important what part of the body the projectile hits and at what speed it does so. On the other hand, a low-energy weapon can also kill a person if it hits vital organs (heart, large blood vessels, skull).
Regarding the area of the body, let's say an abdominal gunshot wound received by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico in the assassination attempt against him, what category does it fall into?
When a projectile enters the human body, it may not cause the most serious changes at the point where it struck. It is capable of damaging several body cavities, for example by snapping on a rib or the spine, and then smoothly moving to another or third body cavity, "bouncing" back and forth without leaving the body. Many times we find projectiles in completely bizarre places, far from the entrance wound.
The number of assassinations against world leaders increased further with the assassination attempt against the Slovak Prime Minister. Can you recall what happened in which case?
The 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, was shot from a distance with a high-energy weapon. He died almost immediately from the shot to the skull. Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, was shot by a mentally ill taxi driver. In this case, the president was shot in the chest, but he was lucky that his bodyguards were well prepared, as one of them jumped between the assassin and the president, reducing the effects of the shot like a human shield. II. An assassination attempt was committed against Pope János Pál in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican. The case of the head of the Catholic Church can also be said to be fortunate, as he suffered a peripheral chest shot, which is usually easy to treat. Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was shot in the back with a handgun by an assassin in the open street. In this case, we can presumably speak of an experienced marksman who was able to target a vital organ in such a way that it was instantly fatal. We do not yet know the exact details regarding the case of the Slovak Prime Minister, so I cannot make a clear statement about it.
Considering the severity of the wound, is the distance from which the shot is fired also authoritative? In the case of Robert Fico, the assassin was very close...
A targeted abdominal shot primarily goes into the abdominal cavity. The biggest problem is when you cut in close, perpendicularly, at high speed. The abdominal cavity is also dangerous, just like the chest, because there are so many vital organs there. The abdominal cavity also has a very special factor, the saturation of the abdominal organs with fluid. It is common for the target to eat or drink immediately before the shots are fired.
It also doesn't matter whether you consumed carbonated liquid or how much you consumed in terms of the severity of your injuries.
Because liquids are incompressible, the pressure in them spreads without resistance, so the physical effects of the shot increase and can cause a much more serious injury.
Colonel Sándor Pellek (source: Dr. Sándor Pellek)
How serious is an abdominal gunshot wound compared to other gunshot wounds?
Skilled assassins usually target the chest because they know that there are vital organs responsible for circulation and breathing. It is easier to cause a combined injury in the chest, which can even be instantly fatal. But, as I said above, there can be serious complications with abdominal shots as well.
One of the most obvious signs of both chest and abdominal shots is when blood appears in the victim's mouth.
This always indicates that the main airways or the alimentary canal are damaged in parallel with the damage to the large vessels, and the blood coming out of the blood vessels appears in the oral cavity through the airways or the alimentary canal. These casualties do not actually die directly from the gunshot, but rather suffocate due to blood-clogged airways. Such a phenomenon could not be seen in the video recordings of the Slovak Prime Minister.
By the way, it is shocking that everyone can see these events live, because the psychological effects of the attacks lie in this! This is the "oxygen of the public"!
At the moment of the shot, is it possible to determine how serious the wound is?
The open eye can immediately see how big the problem is. When someone is shot and suddenly loses a large amount of blood, there is a clearly visible consequence. These injured people immediately lose consciousness, the main reason for this being the sudden change in blood supply to the brain. Based on the videos seen, the Slovak Prime Minister did not have such symptoms. Of course, in the case of gunshot wounds, time is an extremely important factor, so that the treatment, stabilization and professional preparation for transport of the injured can begin as soon as possible. In severe cases, the time window for treatment is extremely limited.
In the case of Robert Fico, the news is about a nearly five-hour life-saving operation. Is this considered a long surgery for gunshot wounds?
The time spent in the operating room is not only surgical time, it also includes pre-procedure preparations and post-operative tasks, so it can be misleading for the layman.
Could this abdominal gunshot wound have been avoided with protective equipment?
This is a very interesting question. In the event that someone wears protective equipment, they must first be in extremely good physical condition and learn how to wear the device. You should also be aware that shrapnel or bulletproof vests only protect from the front and back, not from the sides. Assassins specializing in shooting always shoot from the side, because from there they can destroy three body cavities at the same time, which is fatal.
When a layman hears the sound of a firearm for the first time, he reflexively crouches down and turns his body ninety degrees.
The pros know this, they often shoot a scary shot, and then when the body turns, the targeted shot can come. Incidentally, in the United States there is already a shrapnel- and bullet-proof outerwear woven from a special material that also protects from the side and, in principle, catches bullets. It is possible to survive an assassination, of course, taking into account the secondary consequences of the physical effects.
Featured image: Robert Fico is taken away by his bodyguards from the scene of the assassination/Source: X/Mycha
