 [ Symptoms ] why would a gunshot wound in the arm not be stitched or sutured  we took my son to the specialist 48 hours after the gunshot was treated in the er at a hospital the specialists office was shocked that they left both of the wounds unstitched or sutured he bled badly when the bandage was removed at the doctor there was no evidence of iodinebeta dine on the wounds either is this common because all our sources say it was not proper procedure please advise us he now has to be kept on antibiotics for an extended period of time too late to stitch now [ Disease ] unfortunately i do not know the medical details of this gunshot wound to comment specifically some wounds are sutured and some are not if the clinician knows that there are absolutely no foreign materials pieces of cloth dirt bullet fragments etc then it may be closed if a wound is sutured with even the tiniest piece of foreign material it is highly likely to get infected so many surgeons will leave it open to drain if a sutured wound becomes infected it may need to be opened if the wound is in an area that is cosmetic face neck etc  then it should be closed antibiotics are often appropriate since wound infections will complicate healing i am not sure what type of specialist that is being seen now but since they have the ability to examine the person they are the ones who can best comment on the quality of care