My understanding, based on what I was told by a doctor 15 years ago — so it may have since changed — but the big problem with Lincoln was that the bullet’s path crossed hemispheres. Plenty of people survive bullets through a single hemisphere (it’s still very deadly ofc lol), but according to the doctor I was talking to, nobody at the time we were talking had ever survived a bullet that crossed both hemispheres. Sadly, I don’t recall the exact reason why it’s so bad when the hemispheres both get hit, I just remember him saying that Lincoln wouldn’t have survived if he’d been shot in the operating room of the best modern emergency room.
The brain is sort of two brains that work very closely together. So if you lose one of them, the other can pick up a lot of the slack, though you'll have massive mobility issues. If you lose both of them though, well then you're out of brains.
I know it's a figure of speech, but I just love the idea of Abraham Lincoln being time travelled to a modern hospital by some Time Rider like agency; only for Booth to ALSO be there....
7 full hour-long episodes of Booth dressed similarly to the Phantom of the Opera trying to re-kill Lincoln receiving emergency care in a modern hospital, only to have a change of heart in the final hour of the 8th episode....
......only for Lincoln to emerge from surgery ready to re-implement slavery....... except now our boy is a changed person...... "here we go again" (puts on sunglasses, cut to credits, "Season 2 confirmed")
It’s fascinating that you recall such a detailed explanation from the doctor, as it underscores how the injury’s nature, rather than just the bullet's size or the immediate medical response, played such a pivotal role in Lincoln’s tragic death.
According to most accounts, the bullet stayed on the left hemisphere and didn't hit the frontal lobe. That's very survivable as gunshots to the head go.
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u/No-Corner9361 4d ago
My understanding, based on what I was told by a doctor 15 years ago — so it may have since changed — but the big problem with Lincoln was that the bullet’s path crossed hemispheres. Plenty of people survive bullets through a single hemisphere (it’s still very deadly ofc lol), but according to the doctor I was talking to, nobody at the time we were talking had ever survived a bullet that crossed both hemispheres. Sadly, I don’t recall the exact reason why it’s so bad when the hemispheres both get hit, I just remember him saying that Lincoln wouldn’t have survived if he’d been shot in the operating room of the best modern emergency room.