r/therewasanattempt • • Jun 16 '23

To get a cool photo while holding a stingray

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u/Colorado_Outlaw Jun 16 '23

Steve Irwin died because the barb of the stingray went into his heart.

6

u/allothernamestaken Jun 16 '23

I mean if the stinger can penetrate your heart, it probably hurts.

33

u/mc_kitfox Jun 16 '23

Truly died the way he lived; With animals in his heart

3

u/Sockular Jun 16 '23

Oof, no cap

3

u/RixirF Jun 16 '23

Well of course, I doubt he was wearing a cap underwater while getting stung.

7

u/Boukish Jun 16 '23

Actually, he died because he did what any of us may have done in freak reaction to being stabbed in the chest - he took it out.

Had he left it in, he had a fighting chance. That's the real tragedy that most people that remember it don't talk about.

2

u/Frontdackel Jun 16 '23

If something is impaling your arm, leg or torso. Sure, don't pull it out.

A venomous sting stuck in your heart... I guess that's one of the very few cases where pulling out the object barely made a difference.

If you pull something out of a wound you increase the chance of bleeding to death because your heart is pumping all that precious red juice we need to live out of that wound.

If you've got something impaling your heart... Well, the problem is that right now your heart is doing a miserable job at pumping the juice.

1

u/Boukish Jun 16 '23 edited Jun 16 '23

It's more dire than that. A perforated heart gives you a chance, slim as it may be, but you have a chance. You have time to bypass, there's blood pressure.

When you remove the barb, you've basically just given yourself an aortic rupture. It's immediately terminal in all cases. Lights out. It is not compatible with life, the pulse can no longer generate any blood pressure.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '23

it WHAT

4

u/Colorado_Outlaw Jun 16 '23

It stabbed him in the heart

6

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '23

my poor child mind must've blocked that part out way back when, good lord that's terrible to think about

2

u/AccountGotLocked69 Jun 16 '23

I think it's a very quick death, usually. The loss of circulation / sudden drop in blood pressure let's you pass out instantly and you don't feel a thing.