This study was conducted in a hospital in Lagos, Nigeria, and only considered 82 patients, all of whom were shot in the abdomen between 1992 and 1998. I include it in this discussion for one reason – the point their data make about "spreading the wealth":
• Overall, their patients had an 18% mortality rate
• Patients with a single organ injured had a 4% mortality rate
• Patients with two injured organs died at a 19% rate
• Three organs injured jumped to 35% mortality
• Four organs injured meant 37% mortality
• And five organs injured resulted in 100% fatalities
For the record, these wounds were likely more powerful than what we will see on our streets: 38% were caused by a handgun, 33% by a shotgun, and 21% by a rifle, almost certainly a .30 caliber one.
