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Eben Byers was an American socialite, sportsman, and industrialist. He won the 1906 U.S. Amateur in golf. In 1927, Byers injured his arm falling from a railway sleeping berth. For the persistent pain, a doctor suggested he take Radithor, a solution of radium in water. Byers began taking several doses of Radithor per day, believing it gave him a "toned-up feeling", but stopped in October 1930 (after taking some 1400 doses) when that effect faded. He lost weight and had headaches, and his teeth began to fall out. In 1931, the Federal Trade Commission asked him to testify about his experience, but he was too sick to travel so the commission sent a lawyer to take his statement at his home. The lawyer reported that Byers's "whole upper jaw, excepting two front teeth and most of his lower jaw had been removed" and that "All the remaining bone tissue of his body was disintegrating, and holes were actually forming in his skull." His death on March 31, 1932 was attributed to "radiation poisoning" using the terminology of the time, but it was due to cancers, not acute radiation syndrome.

X-ray image from a Hospital in Los Angeles shows six nails embedded in the skull of construction worker Isidro Mejia, after an industrial incident caused a nail gun to shoot nails into his head and brain on April 19, 2004. Five of the six nails were removed in surgery that day and the sixth was removed from his face on April 23, after the swelling went down.

In December 1963, while spearfishing along Australia's southern coast, Rodney Fox was suddenly dragged underwater. In an instant, he endured a punctured diaphragm, torn lung, pierced scapula, and exposed abdomen, ribcage, spleen, and upper stomach. When rescuers finally retrieved him, they had to leave his wetsuit intact to prevent his organs from spilling out. Following four hours of intricate surgery and the application of 462 stitches, Rodney Fox survived one of the most severe non-fatal Great White Shark attacks in history, living to share his incredible tale.