I am writing a short piece where one of my characters provides some medical care to a stabbing victim. Some backstory: My character received her training long ago, and received it during time of war as a military nurse who, unlike military nurses in the modern age who are true nurses in every sense, was conscripted into the service and learned her trade O.J.T, so to speak. Ok, back to the story. She finds the stabbing victim who was run through the outside of the upper leg. Put your arm down naturally and where your hand touches your leg - right there, from front to back. Tourniquet? And if so, where? Also, if there were a catatonic person there as well, who would get priority in treatment?
The stabbing victim would get the higher priority in triage. Catatonia is not a deteriorating or life-threatening condition. The stabbing victim would have to be stabilized, most likely with a compression bandage. A tourniquet is a last-resort measure, for example for a severed artery. If a tourniquet is needed, amputation of the limb may be necessary.
right... a tourniquet wouldn't be used in that situation, since no artery is involved... just a compression bandage would be used, to stop the bleeding till the wound can be sutured... however, unless the victim is pretty much overweight, i can't see a knife going 'from front to back' there, since since there's little flesh on the side of the thigh, as opposed to the back of it... in fact, being about 30 pounds overweight myself, there's still not enough loose flesh there for a knife to go all the way through, as you've described... simply using a tourniquet won't lead to an amputation, though... that only happens if the tourniquet is kept tight for a long time, not loosened regularly, to let blood flow through to the limb... thus depriving it of oxygen and causing cells to die out, which leads to gangrene and amputation... as for triage, cog is right in that a person in a catatonic state is not at immediate risk of dying, so would be placed in the second third of a triage sort, the stabbing victim being in the first, those too far gone to save, making up the last third... and no, i'm not a nurse, but my mom was an RN for over 50 years, my dad ran hospitals, i worked in many hospital areas and ran a doctor's office... plus, i had 7 kids, so have had to deal with ERs more than most folks, both professionally and personally...
After reviewing the idea again and taking into account the age of the assailant (which is very young indeed) I decided that the wound inflicted would be of a much lesser degree. It did not add to the story to have the drama of a through and through wound and as pointed out by Maia it is not terribly plausible either. Dave also pointed out that a wound with little access for cleaning and sterilization would most probably cause a septic situation and with a quickness. The players in this scene have no access to modern medical facilities or goods. The treatment is being given in the field, so to speak, and with only a bit of moon shine as an antiseptic. That made sense and it does not serve my story to have the victim die. I need him around a bit.
