The 8th Bullet: Handcuffed to the Bed
Jacob Blake’s restraint might be the 8th bullet that kills him
Jacob Blake should never have been shot.
Period.
But unlike so many other victims, he lived. He made it to a hospital, and though he is paralyzed, his kids haven’t lost their dad.
Yet.
But we learned today that the police department weren’t done yet. They chained a man who cannot walk, who might never walk again, to his hospital bed.
By doing so, they might have just put the final bullet in his back.
Did you know that 7–8% of deaths in spinal cord injuries are related to a pressure sore?
If these patients can be stabilized from their initial injuries to their spinal cord, they aren’t out of the woods yet.
Our bodies are not designed to stay in one place for a prolonged period of time, and if we have feeling in our lower half, we naturally readjust often so that we don’t get too uncomfortable.
We are spoiled by the luxury of having our nervous system warn us before we get to a pressure sore situation.
