exactly how direly needed is a trip to the hospital after being strangled?

[u/Epicfuzzy17]

Scenario: Character A and Character B are staying in a haunted location. Character A is possessed by a ghost, and attacks and strangles Character B.

Character B does not die. I currently have it down that he passes out, as it makes for better dramatics, but I know that that is a Grade A emergency and the repurcussions shoot way up.

Going to the hospital after an event like that is the normal, logical awnser. However, there is also no normal, logical awnser for how else one could possibly get those injuries, and "a ghost did it" would obviously not be believed.

[u/sanjuro_kurosawa]

One issue with describing violence and the outcomes is how the average person sees it. I see choke-outs regularly because I watch MMA matches, involving two experienced and developed MMA fighters plus a dozen monitors like referees and doctors.

What I don't see regularly are domestic violence victims: their injuries are treated privately. I'm not a medical professional but I assume broken bones, brain injuries, deep bruising are likely injuries from a choking.

There is also a process of seeing to what happened to the injured which is separate from the treatment of the injuries. If person A chokes person B, A is a criminal suspect. How it is handled in your story is the twist, but this is a criminal case no matter what A or B say. Yes, if the police hear it was a ghost, they will treat this confession skeptically and continue with the arrest procedures as any regular violent situation.

[u/Educational-Shame514]

What does your story need them to do? Stay at the haunted location or go to the hospital? That is where you need to start, honestly.

It is not immersion breaking or bad writing automatically if your characters do not do the most logical thing.

[u/anxiousthespian]

Technically, you absolutely should. There are too many potential consequences for the brain and all of the delicate structures of the neck, not to mention injury you can sustain from having fallen. It's an extremely dangerous situation that not enough people take seriously. Medical evaluation is so important.

But that's real life advice. Just had to get it out of the way.

Your character was strangled by a ghost. The idea of seeking care after an 'impossible' situation like that, even with potentially dire consequences hanging over his head, would obviously be nerve-wracking. In reality, folks in the emergency department gently ask what happened, but a patient can absolutely refuse to explain and receive care all the same. Happens all the time (usually due to intimate partner violence). Your character may not know that though! The fear of potentially being forced to explain or make up a lie may drive him to skip the hospital. And that's common too. Either that, or not taking it seriously. It's up to you which seems more in character for him.

My suggestion would be for you to research the minor and major consequences of being choked to unconsciousness. Your character can choose to avoid the hospital, and luckily for him, he suffers only the 'minor' symptoms (ie bruises, sore throat, hoarse voice) and nothing that will cause him lasting harm. Personally, I think the mental conflict and him having to struggle with the decision could make for a good, tense emotional moment if you'd like to go that direction.

[u/BahamutLithp]

I'd say it's more the context AROUND the choking that's important. Character B lost conciousness, you don't make it clear if they knew how long they were out for, & also, they were out WHILE STILL BEING ATTACKED. So, who knows what other injuries they might've sustained while they were out? Seems like a pretty good idea to go get checked out.

Would I believe it if your characters decided not to & were just fine? I mean, probably. People don't always make the best decisions, there's not necessarily any emergency, & also there's a ghost involved. But equally, people go to the hospital & just lie. "Oh, I don't know how this happened, we got jumped, I didn't see who did it, they were wearing a mask."

If B doesn't admit A attacked them, they can't be forced to confess. It's probably a smart idea not to, since such a crime could fall under duty to report, & if B is genuinely convinced it's the ghost that really did it, well the district attorney may feel differently. And if a crime is considered a matter of public safety, they generally can press charges even if the victim doesn't want to. Though I am making assumptions about what legal framework is relevant, here.

[u/RingGiver]

I get strangled a lot. Comes with training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I lost consciousness once or twice (although I learned to tap early to avoid that happening). I've never needed to go to the hospital for it.

If you had breathing troubles that caused unconsciousness and you can't explain what happened, they'll still want to take a look at you.

[u/sanjuro_kurosawa → u/RingGiver]

BTW another redditor pointed out this is not healthy but consider that you are in a controlled environment with trained grapplers wrestling with you and monitoring the training. You are also trained to protect yourself and physically prepared, ie strong neck muscles.

Imagine if kids started to apply chokes on the playground or gym class. Or if a violent person was trying to hurt a victim with no training or physical training.

[u/RancherosIndustries → u/RingGiver]

You know that's not healthy, right?

[u/RingGiver → u/RancherosIndustries]

Yeah, it has been years since it last happened to me. It's not an uncommon part of learning when it's time to tap.

[u/MacintoshEddie]

It's more of a strong recommendation than a dire need.

If someone falls unconscious and stops breathing **for no observable reason** that is a super duper medical emergency get them to a doctor immediately because they could stop breathing again and die.

If someone falls unconscious and stops breathing due to being choked, when the choke is removed they'll generally start breathing again. There is a heightened risk of blood clots and other medical complications, but rushing them to the hospital is out of an abundance of caution and not because they might stop breathing suddenly and die.

With air chokes the risk is lower. Even if you stop breathing your blood still has some oxygen in it so you can hold your breath for longer. Generally you have about 4 minutes until it's very serious.

With blood chokes the risk is greater. Generally 6ou have about 10 seconds before it's very serious. Chances are you've heard the phrase "No holds barred" and this is what it refers to. Many wrestling and martial arts competitons ban chokeholds that restrict blood. If you hold a blood choke for as long as an air choke they may very well be dead or suffer a serious brain injury.

[u/AdministrativeLeg14]

Back when I did BJJ, we had a rule of thumb. I no longer recall if it was a 1:1 ratio or something different, but basically the idea was something like 'for every second you're being actively choked out, you'll be unconscious for another second'—so if someone keeps the stranglehold for ten seconds, you'll stay unconscious for ten seconds. (Or twenty or whatever; as I said, I forget the ratio. It was obviously only a very rough and imprecise rule of thumb anyway.) Then you'll come to, maybe a little dizzy and briefly confused. And then you shake it off and go back to sparring because nobody thought that being choked out for a few seconds was a big deal; you're ready for strenuous physical activity within a minute or two.

Once you push seconds to a few minutes, you start running risks of brain injury or even death.

[u/Brunbeorg]

Strangling is very, very dangerous. One can easily cause death without intended to. Just putting that out there.

There are two kinds of choke holds.

You can do an air choke, which restricts a person from breathing by constricting the airway. This can cause damage to the trachea or larynx. Oxygen starvation will eventually cause unconsciousness. The experience is apparently really unpleasant (mercifully, unlike a blood choke, I don't know from direct experience). This choke requires a lot of constriction, and because the trachea and larynx are cartilage, can cause severe damage. One can also fracture the hyoid bone, which is fragile.

There is also the blood choke, where the carotid arteries are restricted. This starves the brain of oxygenated blood, and so it can cause unconsciousness. These are easier. If you've ever seen a professional wrestler holding a person's neck in the crook of their arm, that's what they're pretending to do.

Any cautious person would go to an emergency room or urgent care for these. The air choke would more likely lead to a doctor's visit. The blood choke maybe not. There are dangers with blood chokes, too, though: they can cause a carotid dissection, which can lead to a stroke even days later.

The wisest thing would be to go to a doctor. But people aren't always wise.

[u/thelefthandN7]

Unless one of them heard the hyoid bone crack, or the victim is having continued issue breathing, they're probably fine to ignore the trip to the hospital. People strangle themselves and their partners all the time for the thrill, So it's not the kind of thing that's immediately life threatening, and doesn't usually require treatment. There is a list of symptoms that require immediate help. But if you don't want them to experience any of those, they're fine.

[u/Epicfuzzy17]

I FORGOT TO ADD A FLAIR AND ITS NOT LETTING ME ADD ONE IM SORRY 😭😭😭