Dr. Kelly was a highly intelligent man.
The "suicide hypothesis" asks us to believe he incised his left wrist with the intention of killing himself.
It doesn't take too much intelligence to work out that cutting two wrists is likely to cause more blood loss than cutting one wrist.
So, given David Kelly's intelligence, why according to the "suicide hypothesis" didn't he cut his right wrist?
Many genuine attempted suicides cut both wrists.
Why didn't David Kelly?
I don't think it's explained by any cut tendons on the left side. The greater part of the grip on a knife comes from the thumb and middle and index fingers. So David Kelly ought to have been capable of cutting his right wrist to the same degree as any other supposed suicide.
So why didn't he do so?
According to the postmortem report, seemingly no tendons were severed:
This wound penetrated through to the level of the tendons in the flexor compartment and there was some damage to the tendons themselves, although none appear to be completely severed.
So, mechnically speaking, David Kelly ought to have been able to incise his right wrist too.
But he didn't.
For an intelligent man supposedly intent on killing himself (so the "suicide hypothesis" would have us believe) that failure to incise his right wrist is a bizarre and unintelligent omission.
It, quite simply, doesn't make sense.
From talking to surgeons, I had understood that to reach the ulnar artery one had to cut THROUGH tendons (extremely painful).
ReplyDeleteHunt says the ulnar artery was completely severed and the ulnar nerve partially severed.
Is it possible to achieve these two things without cutting tendons?
In addition to the important point raised by Rowena is the fact that Dr Kelly would have had to present his left wrist at an awkward uncomfortable angle if he was slashing the ulnar artery.
ReplyDeleteThe radial artery is the one I believe that you can feel if you are checking the pulse in your wrist and would be far more accessible surely and because of the pulse easier to accurately locate. Add on the fact that it would be in a far more comfortable position for cutting and it's obvious that Dr Kelly selecting the ulnar would make no sense whatsoever.
Rowena,
ReplyDeleteI honestly don't remember the anatomy of the wrist clearly enough to answer your question.
My comment about tendons came from the postmortem report which mentioned tendon damage but indicated that no tendon appeared to have been transected.
Brian,
ReplyDeleteYour comment is entirely logical IF one assumes that the wrist was cut while a pulse was present.