man who had 6 nails embedded in his head to make a full recovery

DevilRedeemed

teh
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3685791.stm
Builder survives nailgun accident
A construction worker has miraculously survived after six nails were embedded in his skull.

_40117643_nailxray203.jpg

This X-ray was taken one hour after the accident

Isidro Mejia, 39, was rushed to hospital after his nailgun accidentally went off, shooting nails into his head.

Newspaper reports say doctors at Providence Holy Cross Hospital in Los Angeles had feared for his life when he arrived.

But Mr Mejia is now out of intensive care and doctors expect him to make a full recovery.

Extensive surgery

Surgeons removed the six nails over the course of five days.

"Four of the nails were embedded in his skull," said hospital spokesman Brian Green.

"Another was in his spinal column. Surgeons worked round the clock to take the nails out one by one.
"It was a very delicate process and was not completed for five days.

"The neurosurgeon who operated on Isidro could not believe he was still alive.

"With injuries like that, he should have been dead. He has been taken out of intensive care and although still groggy and on medication is expected to make a full recovery.

"His wife and family are obviously delighted that he survived and are looking forward to getting home," he said.

According to the reports, police have launched an investigation. However, they believe it was a bizarre accident.

"His colleagues said Isidro was using a nailgun that has both manual and fully automatic settings," said deputy sheriff Dan McPherson.

"It appears he slipped and fired into his skull."
 
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Sundance

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I like the quote on Fark.com best:

Man shoots self in head six times with nail-gun. Recovering, but feels rusty
 

Kiel

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I work with and sell nail guns and There is no way possible that that could happen on accident. Maybe he tried to kill himself, a while back a guy cut off his hand in a miter saw and tried to kill himself with a finishing nailer but that didn't work. (finish nailer=small nails)
 

Robert

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How can you put 6 nails in your head by accident? It makes me think about the story of this guy who commited suicide by 2 bullets in his head :rolleyes:
 

aria

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Considering those nails were coming from the back of his head, suicide seems to be a problem-cause.

Maybe the other workers were playing "pin the tail on the [back of Isidro's head]"
 

Kiel

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Back of the head...maybe someone tried to off him....
 

LWK

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I dont know, hes gotta have some of this injury carry over. One of those nails entered his temporal lobe and another his occipital. If he can hear and see perfectly, I'd be amazed.

I'm guessing this was a accident, probably was in a bizarre position when it went off.
 

aria

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If you want to see a funny nailgun related commercial, go over to www.stupidvideos.com and watch the "nail gun" commerical by Fox Sports. Comedy gold.
 

galfordo

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Was this a full auto nailgun or what? If so, I guess it's possible that it was an accident. But for someone to just happen to "accidentally" hit him in the back of the head 4 times in a row .... that's a bit hard to swallow. Maybe if even one of the 4 nails didn't go into the kill zone, then it'd be more plausible.
 

syringe

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That reminds me of the TLC special where they removed an army knife from someone's skull. *shivers*
 

dragonwillow

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How fast does an automatic nail gun fire anyways?
Did all of those just shoot into his head before he fell?
 

Kiel

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dragonwillow said:
How fast does an automatic nail gun fire anyways?
Did all of those just shoot into his head before he fell?

It will fire as fast as you depress the saftey mechinism on the tip of the gun, which must be done for each nail...that is why I smell bull shit in this story.
 

Darklighterx

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Yes, there is a safety on most nailguns, that is located at the very tip of the "muzzle". Placing the muzzle against the suface to be nailed pushes the the safety back, thus enabling fire.

For him to have received 6 shots, the muzzle must have had been placed flush with his skull. Now, if the unit was modified, that's another story, but freak accidents do happen. :help:
 

galfordo

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Daklighterx said:
Now, if the unit was modified, that's another story, but freak accidents do happen. :help:

nail gun uzi mod - $120 shipped.
 
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Atro

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dragonwillow said:
How fast does an automatic nail gun fire anyways?
Did all of those just shoot into his head before he fell?

In Quake II they fired quite fast :p

I wonder the same thing. Never seen one in person let alone it shooting nails.
 

dragonwillow

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Saw one in Scooby Doo about 7 years back :P

That is intriguing though. Seriously, if a freaking nail shot into the back of your head, wouldn't you sort of move? Fall down? And pretty quickly, at least.

Notice the angle the nails are at in the X-ray picture. Apparently two shot into his head after he fell, because that's probaby the only way the angle could've changed 90 degrees or so horizontally. Now, the question is, how did the nail gun hit him on the ground, if the original nails hit him while he was standing up?

Makes no sense to me. I don't think it was point blank either... then again, I don't know how powerful nail guns are. I think if it were point blank, it would've penetrated his skull and cut into his brain.
 

Hellsing

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He shot himself in the back of the head 6 times?!?!? :confused:
And here I thought my luck was bad. :smirk:
 
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This story is bullshit rie!

My theory was that someone was trying to nail him from the back(pun intended), by the time the vic turned his head instinctively to look in back of him, 2 more nails were fired in the side of his skull.

This was attempted murder. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it. (oh shit another pun).

Film at 11.
 

Kiel

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Daklighterx said:
Yes, there is a safety on most nailguns, that is located at the very tip of the "muzzle". Placing the muzzle against the suface to be nailed pushes the the safety back, thus enabling fire.

For him to have received 6 shots, the muzzle must have had been placed flush with his skull. Now, if the unit was modified, that's another story, but freak accidents do happen. :help:

Yeah, thats right. You summed it up better than I could, I couldnt quite explain how it worked.

I'm with you Electroman, something is up here.
 

dragonwillow

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Some pictures of nailguns:
http://www.george-higgins.co.uk/nailguns.htm


Well, if the guy's gonna make a full recovery, we'll see his opinions.

And keep in mind that this is a construction worker at a construction site.
It would be incredibly hard to commit a murder in such a dense area.

If the site is open or high-rise, there's no place to hide. People see you.

If it's more enclosed, how would you fire point blank shots with a nail gun without getting blood spattered on your body? As people said, there is a safety at the end, so I guess point blank is the only way to fire it, unless you use something to trigger the safety, which is what may have happened in an accident as well.


We need to keep in mind the rate of fire of the nailgun. How fast is it? Can anyone give a good estimate?
 
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