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@skylarynn

So, you’re probably aware of this, being stabbed in the back is not healthy. The torso in general doesn’t have a lot of “good” places where the injury would not be too severe or long lasting. It may be counter intuitive, but the best place would be on the victim’s right side and upper back, piercing the lung. Particularly since you mentioned the blade in question is a stiletto – a piercing dagger with a thin blade and straight, sometimes unsharpened edge. This is most likely to produce a relatively small puncture wound, reducing (slightly) the change of pneumothorax – where the thoracic cavity which contains the lungs and heart fills with air or fluid outside of the lungs, causing lung collapse. Even if the lung does collapse, this can be rectified by puncturing the thoracic cavity with a straw, allowing air and fluid (blood or interstitial fluid) to flow out of the thoracic cavity, allowing the injured lung to expand normally again.

While not an immediately fatal wound, the victim would need medical assistance within an hour to treat the above described pneumothorax before both lungs collapse. However, assuming they do receive some competent help to stop the bleeding and keep them from drowning in their own blood, they actually have a much better long-term prognosis than the victim of a stomach or intestinal stab wound. A stab, even a small puncture to either the liver, gallbladder, stomach, or intestines will cause the leakage of bile, stomach juices, and/or intestinal juices containing acid, bacteria, and stool into the peritoneal  cavity (abdomen). While not immediately fatal – in fact the victim might carry on normally for some hours, or even appear to recover by the end of the day, infection and continuing tissue damage from acid seepage will spell their doom within a few days to weeks. Without antibiotics, blood transfusions, or a gifted surgeon to suture up the damaged organs, this guy is a gonner. A stab to the intestines has a slim chance of missing most of the colon, and they could end up with a purely muscular injury, but that is highly unlikely.

In recovery, the patient would need to remain laying on their back or right side while sitting up in bed, to prevent the lung from filling with fluid as well as to prevent the collapse of the other lung due to pressure from fluid build-up. I am uncertain at present if medieval surgeons would know to puncture the thoracic cavity to resolve a collapsed lung, but I can look it up in the morning. The patient would probably be abed for a month, and then light activity only for another 2-4 weeks.

But if the dagger is coated in poo, then they’re kinda dead no matter where they get stabbed. You don’t need exotic poisons when good old sepsis and pneumonia will do the trick.