Sam W

Depends on how deep the cut is. If you just nick the vein, chances are putting pressure on it and keeping your arm raised above your head should stop the blood-flow after five or ten minutes. If you sever the vein, though, you're in big trouble. Doctors usually clamp the vein in those circumstances. So, you're going to need a tourniquet.

As WriterDude said, there is a big chance of infection. Infection usually means death. Plus, you have the chance of going septic due to blood poisoning.

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PSFoster

First, if you cut a vein, it will stop bleeding with pressure. If you cut an artery you apply a tourniquet above the cut to stop blood flow. The arteries are the main blood carriers and with each heartbeat the blood spurts. You can die from blood loss in minutes from a cut artery.

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seigfried007

You mentioned the wrist was 'cut'. What kind of 'cut'? If the cut was jagged versus a clean medical incision, the risk of infection and length of time to heal skyrockets.

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Fegaril

Oh, most definitely. The story is from his perspective and he's not going to have a doctor's degree all of a sudden

Thanks, it's good to actually know the difference. Do you know if the arteries are 'hidden' deeper than the veins? Or do they basically follow each other in the area around the wrists? Because if you look at your wrists, you're able to see the veins/arteries just below the skin, hence my worry that no matter how deep her cuts are, the wounds could potentially be lethal without further medical aid (which they are completely unable to get due to the tragic circumstances).

The character tries to commit suicide, but she uses a normal, clean household knife, and the cuts are definitely not made with any precision or care at all.

However, she has to live, and it's always been my intention that my main character 'saves' her. The change I've made to the story now adds a level of ambiguity in that she wants to kill herself, but the cuts she's made are not nearly deep enough to be lethal, so subconsciously she may just want to keep living, as she still possesses the small hint of a will to live. Or perhaps she just lacked the courage to make the cuts any deeper. The main character isn't sure, and it makes for additional dialogue, as he slowly wants to find out.

PSFoster

The arteries are a bit deeper under the skin. The blood vessels you see are veins. Veins carry the blood back to the heart after the oxygen has been removed. Arteries carry oxygenated blood from the heart to the different parts of the body, which is why if you sever an artery it will spurt the blood with each heartbeat. When you feel your pulse at your wrist, you are feeling an artery. So the cut would have to be on the thumb side of the wrist for the artery to be severed.

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Fegaril

Thanks a lot. I really feel a lot better informed, even for later stories as well!

RoundEye

Many years ago I cut somebody with a kitchen knife, it’s harder to cut human skin then you think. Unless you stab them and not slice them. This guy was some hang-around friend and he wanted to be cut for what even reason I can’t recall now. After he begged for a while I grabbed a serrated kitchen knife and cut him across his forearm with some ample force. His eyes damn near popped out his head. “I didn’t want it so deep!” He quit begging for it after that.

As far as bleeding goes, bust out the window of a pet store and grab some styptic powder. Shouldn’t be too hard to find an empty pet store in a post apocalyptic world. My dad has tons of that stuff for when his horses get stuck on the barb wire fences. I’ve used that stuff on the end of my finger when I cut myself pretty good when working in my attic. Bitch to get off, but it stops the bleeding





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Fegaril

Wow, that sounds like a brutal experience. I must count myself lucky for never having been begged into doing something like that.

I know we definitely don't have that particular product where I live, mainly because I live in Scandinavia. We probably have an equivalent that could be used, but if we do, I have no idea what it would be called. And to keep with the realm of credibility, I doubt the main character and the female character who cut herself would either.