Cutting!

Lethality: 6%

Time: 105 min

Pain: 71

General

The average person has 6.25 litres of blood in circulation. In the case of acute external blood loss the physical effects become progressively more debilitating as there is less and less blood to supply the body. Minor amounts of blood can be lost quite safely- the loss of half a litre will result in slight faintness, as in the experience of donating blood. Once the blood loss increases to around 1 litre, the effects become more pronounced, with faintness becoming more severe and the physiologic effects become more pronounced (such as increased heart and respiratory rates and a fall in blood pressure). Blood loss in excess of 1.5 litres is likely to cause collapse. When the blood loss exceeds 2.25 litres death becomes increasingly more likely.

The majority of people who slice anything but a major artery seldom lose anything in excess of a litre of blood. This is due to the physiological systems the body employs to combat blood loss. These various systems usually reduce the blood flow from the injury down to a trickle before it becomes life threatening. There are four such mechanisms activated to combat blood loss. Initially, there is a release of thromboxane in the bleeding tissue, which promotes clotting and causes the affected blood vessel to contract, reducing the blood loss. This is then coupled with the cardiovascular system raising the heart rate and diverting blood flow from peripheral blood vessels to the vital organs (such as the brain, heart, lungs, liver and kidneys). Therefore the cardiovascular system further reduces blood loss and redistributes blood for life support functions. The final two, less dramatic physiological systems employed by the body are renal and hormonal, which help combat fluid loss by aiding water conservation. This is because water is essential to survival and particularly so when there is fluid loss. Deaths from bleeding are seldom due to a lack of red blood cells, rather an acute lack of the liquid it travels in.

There are a wide variety of factors that can amplify the blood loss. One of these is the addition of a vasodilator or subjecting the body to any environmental phenomena such as heat that increases the blood flow. A vasodilator is any drug that causes the dilation of blood vessels; this obviously increases the amount of blood loss as if the blood vessels are dilated more blood will flow through them, out of the wound. Whilst these drugs are not limited to purely prescription substances (many, such as alcohol, are readily available), it is far easier for most people to alter their environment to increase the dilation of the blood vessels by getting warm. The most obvious way this can be achieved is in a hot bath where the rapid elevation of the external skin temperature causes the body to initiate various cooling mechanisms. The brain's temperature regulation centre in the anterior hypothalamus activates these systems in the nervous system. Most notably these include the dilation of peripheral blood vessels, which carry the internal heat to the surface for cooling thus increasing blood flow and blood loss.

Wrists

Few people manage to sufficiently damage the blood vessels in the arm to lose anything near dangerous amounts of blood, the vessels just contract and little blood is actually lost. This is why it is a highly inefficient method of suicide, with 98% attempts failing. It, however, often has long lasting repercussions - slicing through the wrist can often damage the tendons in the arm, which control the hand. As tendons are high tensile tissues they are incredibly hard to repair and many people are left with a long-term disability and never regain full use of their hand. Furthermore, the area sliced when slitting the wrists also contains the median nerve, which is responsible for controlling the muscles in the hand. Nerve damage is impossible to repair (other than the body's natural healing processes) and if this is cut, complete paralysis of the hand often ensues.

Throat

There are various tendons and tissues in the throat, namely the sterno-mastoid muscles. The carotid arteries are encased in this thick layer of muscle, gristle and cartilage which is exceptionally hard to reach. Few people actually die from lashing their throat, as they don't reach the carotid arteries, of which incidentally there is one on either side of the neck. They do however often manage to cut the laryngeal nerve, trachea (windpipe) and oesophagus - injuries that alone are seldom fatal. Slicing the trachea is relatively safe with few fatalities associated with it, after all it is just a crude tracheotomy, neither is cutting the laryngeal nerve which is responsible for controlling the voice box, however, it does leave you a mute. Nor is slicing the oesophagus especially lethal. The fatalities associated with slashing the throat are seldom people who successfully slash a carotid artery or jugular vein; rather they slice the trachea and choke on their own blood.

A.S.H Methods FAQ -> Cutting

   SLITTING WRISTS OR OTHER (often not effective)
 * Time: Minutes if major artery cut, eternity otherwise.
 * Available: You really need a razor sharp knife.
  Razors are pretty tricky to hold when they are
  covered with blood.
 * Certainty: possible if you cut an artery,
  improbable otherwise.
 * Notes: Painful at first. Danger of discovery.
  This is a very common suicide 'gesture' and hardly
  ever results in anything other than a scar.
  A lot of will power required to cut deeply into groin
  or carotid arteries, which are the only ones likely
  to kill you. Don't bother with this method.
  Cutting your throat is difficult due to the fact
  that the carotid arteries are protected by your
  windpipe (feel where your arteries are with your
  fingertips, & slice from the side). I've seen
  photos of people who have used this method - the
  depth of the cut required is amazing. If you want to cut
  your wrists, cut along the blue line (vein) on the
  underside of your wrist, but cut deeply so that
  the artery underneath is exposed. 
  Cut this lengthways with a razor or similar.
  The traditional hot bath does help, since it
  keeps the blood flowing quickly, slows down clotting,
  and is nice to lie back and relax in. Position
  yourself so that your wrists don't fall inwards
  against your body, blocking off blood flow.
 * Calle: A posting to A.S.H. suggests using the
  kind of equipment they use when you give blood
  to a blood bank, i.e., a needle in a blood vessel
  and a piece of tubing. It sounds like it would
  remove several of the disadvantages of the
  ordinary slitting-wrists method.

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Isto é o tipo de informação que se consegue encontrar na Internet.
Este texto é parte de um ficheiro que encontrei sobre o suicídio. Era o mesmo em diversos sites, o que faz perceber o quão difundido isto está! Fala sobre os diversos modos de suicídio (sendo Cutting um desses métodos), explicando quais as vantagens e desvantagens e como o executar da melhor maneira possível! Penso que mais explícito só se tivesse mesmo desenhos!
Isto vem na sequência de uma discussão do foro conjugal com a minha cara-metade, em que se discutia se os pulsos eram cortados ao longo ou cruzado... Axo que depois deste ficheiro não preciso de dizer mais nada!
Ficam também a saber que se quiserem cometer uma doce variante do célebre Hara-Kiri, por favor não escolham esta!
E só para terminar a discussão, aqui fica mais um excerto que encontrei na Wikipedia (!!!) sobre a melhor maneira de cortar os pulsos...

"The best chance of death is achieved by slashing the wrist along the vein, rather than across it, as a larger part of vein's surface is cut through."

E esta, hein?