The mortal wound suggests a deadly injury which results in death of the victim. It is not necessary for the wound to be self-afflicting or accidental. Any tearing or lacerating penetration of any weapon e.g. knife which causes irreparable damage to the injured and consequently leads to ones death is called as mortal injury. It is not essential for the mortal wound to show its impact at once and it may reveal on a later stage after the injury that it was a mortal wound that had a very humble appearance in the beginning.
It is also true the wound will not be called mortal when the proper medical care has heeled the wound (whatsoever its severity was) and the victim has survived, the wound will not be called as mortal wound. But even if the requisite medical care does not succeed in saving the victim, the wound will be called as mortal wound. So the bottom line is: it is not the “apparent intensity” of the wound which makes it mortal but its “impact” which results in death.
We can take the example of a slight prick of an infected needle which may result in lethal consequences. Inadequate wound care as well as a wound to a fragile elderly person can also be considered as mortal wound. But there is an exception to regard it as mortal wound when an ordinary wound causes death not due to the wound itself but due to carelessness of the victim or other responsible persons. The word mortal wound is sometimes used connotatively when someone only use the sense to signify certain upheaval.
So the Great Depression was called as a mortal wound to the worth of President Hoover and employment of the people but the usage is merely symbolic in a sense that the wound didn’t caused the direct and actual death.
This is a Mortal Wound
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