Wasn’t this theory debunked by a doctor from NYC who said that the bird shot was too large to have travelled through the veins then through the lungs and then into the heart.

I firmly believe that Whittington was much closer to Cheney than 90 feet, but that doctor doesn’t know anatomy. The veins do not go through the lungs on the way to the heart. The lungs have a separate circulatory system that starts with the pulmonary artery. The jugular vein in the neck is big enough to transport birdshot to the heart through the superior vena cava.

Let us assume for a moment that someone swings a loaded shotgun in your direction, what is your first reaction? You probably don’t stand there dumbfounded facing directly at the weapon, more likely, you at least attempt to turn away.

Draw two dots on a piece of paper. Then, place your chin on the table and look at the dots. Without moving your head, turn the piece of paper. Depending on where you drew the dots, the percieved distance between them will either shrink or grow.

The same thing likely happened in this case to at least SOME degree. Consider for a moment if the lawyer had turned fourty five degrees and two pellets hit (I know more than that hit, consider just these two for the moment): one on the tip of the nose, and the other on his cheek. From the angle the weapon was fired from, there is about 2″ of spread between the shots. If the lawyer then turns to face you, the two shots would now appear only 1″ apart, although the actual spread was 2″.

Just another variable that must be dealt with.

First note, the shotgun used is not the one that Cheney was using. Although the same gauge and approximate length, the much bigger issue is the choke. There isn’t a single degree of choke, it goes from no choke (straight barrel) to full choke, with extreme differences in spread pattern.

I do agree with wickedpinto, the shot pattern can be a very effective demonstration of distance IF YOU HAVE ACCURATELY REPLICATED THE WEAPON AND CHOKE! A proper test done at many different distances with the choke type on Cheneys weapon, with average spread area and concentration, could nail the distance down to within a foot.

7/10 for attempted science
2/10 for pre-experiment research
0/10 for style (NO credible experiment begins with conjecture, no matter how far fetched or likely true. Science is objective and precise, any conjecture presented is presented for the purpose of being tested within the experiment. In this case, only thoughts related to Cheney’s potential distance from target)

You might just spit out your soda.

This is believeable. It is difficult for birdshot to penetrate the chest wall from any distance. The pellet probably lodged inside the ribcage near where the shoulders join the neck(where there is space that isn’t protected by the ribs). From there, gravity will migrate it south towards the heart.

If the pellet got into a neck artery, it would have lodged in the neck/brain causing a stroke, in a vein, it probably would have lodged in the lungs, or gotten stuck in a valve.

It would be easy to stop all the speculation if the medical reports were released. This won’t happen, his records are private and protected.

Looking at this guys other site, he is a flake, but his experimental work stands up. That’s the great thing about science…any bozo can do good work. If you don’t believe it, design and conduct your own experiments! Proove him wrong!

/vic

Wasn’t this theory debunked by a doctor from NYC who said that the bird shot was too large to have travelled through the veins then through the lungs and then into the heart.

Personally, I think Cheney was tripping, maybe on mushrooms, and thought that Whittington was a Yeti.