Reply #7: I vaguely remember this stuff... [View All]

[Dead_Parrot]

...from a paper years ago: Assuming it's the same thing, it artificially increases clotting speed, helping your body plug the leaks. If you're losing blood, even though a dressing, it'll turn the whole area into a scab in a few minutes and you can (in theory) be shuffled off to a med for proper treatment before you bleed to death.

Basically, it's a life saver.

Now it's true that if you get a limb blown off, sticking this stuff straight into the bloodstream could cause all sorts of shit: It's thrombosis in a bottle. The idea was that you apply a dressing, then the compound, then another dressing: It might be the front line troops haven't been trained enough to use it properly (Gosh, what a suprise).

Withdrawing it may well cost more lives than leaving it. But if there's a few million dollars in lawsuits to be lost, it may be cheaper to pull the stuff.

And hey, a few people will die. So what?