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NJ Builder Who Shot Himself In The Heart With Nail Gun Released From The Hospital

CAMDEN, NJ (AP) -- A self-employed builder from New Jersey who accidentally shot a nail into his heart last weekend has been released from the hospital and is expected to fully recover.

Cooper University Hospital officials say 52-year-old Dennis Hennis of Vineland was released late Friday afternoon.

Hennis was working on a neighbor's roof when his nail gun jammed March 31. He was trying to clear it when it felt like someone poked him in the chest, and he soon found a 3 1/2-inch nail had hit the right side of his heart.

Hennis needed to be resuscitated after he went into cardiac arrest in an ambulance before he was airlifted to Cooper University Hospital in Camden.

A team of cardiac and trauma surgeons repaired the damage.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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