Is it correct to say “He got a fatal injury in the accident” when there is a possibility that the person’s life will be saved?

I would like to know whether “fatal injury” means (1) an injury which causes a death, (2) an injury which almost causes a death but not necessarily does, or (3) both (1) and (2) depending on the context.

I am confused because several Japanese-English dictionaries give “fatal injury” as a translation of both chimeishō (致命傷) and hinshi no jūshō (瀕死の重傷), while chimeishō means (1) and hinshi no jūshō means (2).

I am aware of another question about the word “fatal”, but it does not answer my question.

Edit: I changed the title of the question because the former title resulted in an ambiguity which I did not intend.

Solution 1:

In any normal context, a fatal injury is one which either has already led to death, or appears certain to do so.

There will be rare circumstances where that appearance of impending death turns out to be mistaken, but in retrospect this would constitute a misuse of the word fatal.

The normal term for injuries which may well result in death is life-threatening injuries.

With due regard to @Hackworth, when and if it becomes apparent that a person who suffered a life-threatening injury will in fact survive, that could then be called a near-fatal injury. In loose speech people also use this expression for an injury which is not in fact life-threatening, but which could easily have been so had it been slightly different (for example, a knife-wound very close to the carotid artery).

Solution 2:

As a medical professional, I think the context should be taken into account. While I agree with FumbleFingers in principle, I think the speaker may have something to do with the meaning.

The official definition of fatal is:

adjective: resulting in, or capable of causing death

So to answer the question posed, if a person suffers a “fatal injury”, is there a possibility that the person's life will be saved?

The answer would be “yes” if they are alive at the time of the question. So, in the context of the Japanese words you posted:

• If the person is dead and your are describing the injury, then 致命傷 is correct.
• If the person is alive, and survival is possible (or likely), then 瀕死の重傷 is more correct.

Solution 3:

Option (1) is correct, a "fatal" or "mortal" injury does inevitably lead to death. Option (2) would be a "near-fatal injury", option (3) can never be true.