Man accidentally shoots nail into chest, drives himself to hospital

PESHTIGO, Wis. — A Wisconsin man came perilously close to death after accidentally shooting a nail into his chest.

Doug Bergeson told WBAY-TV that he was working on a house he's building near Peshtigo in June when his nail gun accidentally fired, sending a nail into his chest.

Bergeson said "it didn't really hurt," and he thought the nail just nicked him. Then he saw that only about an inch of 3½-inch nail was sticking out of his chest.

Bergeson said he washed up and calmly drove to a hospital in Marinette, about 10 miles away. He parked and walked into the emergency room.

He was transferred to a hospital in Green Bay, where surgeons removed the nail. Dr. Alexander Roitstein said Bergeson is "quite fortunate" the nail wasn't positioned differently.

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