HOMER, Alaska — A 43-year-old Alaska man is expected to make a full recovery after initially treating his own gunshot wound to the head for five days with an antibiotic ointment.
A gun went off as James Doppler was handling it last weekend, state troopers say. His girlfriend urged him to go the hospital but he refused, believing at the time he didn’t need help.
However, in the following days, he began experiencing symptoms associated with a head wound, troopers say. State-trooper spokeswoman Beth Ipsen in an e-mail declined to detail the symptoms because of privacy laws.
But the symptoms prompted him to seek treatment Thursday at the hospital in Homer.
Hospital officials then reported the shooting to troopers.