Polite Dissent

The Punisher #33 “Barracuda, part 3 of 6”
Garth Ennis, writer
Goran Parlov, penciler

Frank Castle (the Punisher) has been captured by a huge thug named Barracuda. Frank manages to escape and ducks into a nearby woodshed only to be followed by Barracuda. He grabs a conveniently located hatchet and lops the four fingers of Barracuda’’s right hand just above the first knuckle.

Given that Barracuda is right handed, this is a pretty devastating injury, especially in light of his chosen career as a professional enforcer. It’’s not going to be a fatal injury though — there-s simply not going to be enough blood loss. At most, Barracuda might get a little light headed and woozy.

The blood vessels supplying the fingers are small and narrow so it would take a very long time to bleed to death from a finger amputation. Long before that would happen, the arteries will have clamped down, clotted off, and stopped bleeding. Any bandages or direct pressure applied to the wound will stop the bleeding even faster. All arteries will clamp down as a result of injury, but the arteries of the fingers and toes are especially sensitive. (This effect is strongest in arteries that have been cut completely through. Arteries that have only been partially cut tend to bleed longer.)

Most of the reactions to finger amputations are due to the psychological shock of the injury, and not to the blood loss. Sure, it looks like a great deal of blood, but because of the narrow blood vessels, it looks worse than it really is. Since Barracuda is one tough hombre, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.

Brawling, or any other sort of physical activity, would increase Barracuda’s blood flow, but not significantly enough to matter. On the other hand, the adrenalin released because the fight and the injury would help the blood vessels clamp down faster.

Barracuda has saved the cut off fingers and placed them on ice in hopes that they can be reattached. However, Frank informs him that he should have placed the fingers in a bag first and then on the ice because direct contact with the ice will injure the fingers. He’s right. Score another one for Frank.