This is from a

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This is from a late piece in the Houston Chronicle (emphasis added)…

Dr. David Blanchard, director of emergency services, said Whittington had more than 10 shotgun pellets embedded in his face, neck and torso as a result of Saturday’s accidental shooting. He said the pellets would not be removed, but added it is normal to closely observe a patient with multiple gunshot wounds.

Before proceeding, let’s stop and award Dr. Blanchard a special award for understatement of the week.

In any case, yesterday I asked hunters to chime in on what they made of the story. Now I’d like to hear from doctors.

From a layman’s point of view, I’d figure you’d want to remove these pellets if you could do so without too much difficulty. (Depending on the metal, there might be some risk of blood poisoning. Who knows?) We’re hearing that these were basically just superficial wounds. But if they’re making no attempt to remove them, I’d figure that means they’re imbedded pretty deep. Or perhaps, if they’re in the neck, they may be close to major arteries or something.

In any case, the floor is open to the doctors. Can we infer anything from the fact that the doctors treating Harry Whittington aren’t trying to remove the shot from his body?

Late Update: The Austin American-Statesman says Whittington was hit by as many as 200 pellets. Some were removed; others weren’t.

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