Friday, December 17, 2010

HOW COULD MEDICAL STAFF AT PARKLAND BE WRONG ABOUT JFK'S THROAT WOUND?

Question To Ponder #3


How could all the medical personnel at Parkland be mistaken in their view that the wound in the throat was an entrance wound?

                                       
Why is it important whether or not the throat wound was entrance or exit? 


If it was entrance, the shot came in the opposite direction JFK was facing at the time he was hit (forward & to the right).  


If  it was exit, it means the shot came from the rear.

Are there different characteristics of an entrance & exit wound? 


The answer is YES.  


Entrance wounds are smaller & neater while exit wounds are larger & messier.  


This is because when a bullet enters the body it pushes material along with it & upon exit some material goes out creating a larger wound.

Robert J. Groden writes in The Killing of a President (1993):

"Parkland (Hospital) doctors Charles Carrico and Malcolm Perry, the first to examine the President, noted (JFK) had a 'small bullet wound in the front lower neck."  Perry perceived the throat wound to be one of entrance, as did Parkland nurse Margaret Henchliffe."

"When asked later by Warren Commission Assistant Counsel Arlen Specter if the wound could have been....exit, Henchcliffe (said): "I have never seen an exit bullet hole....that looked like that."

Dr. Perry described the throat wound as "a very small injury (3 to 5mm) with clear cut....margins of less than a quarter inch, with minimal tissue damage surrounding it on the skin."

We should discuss the emergency procedures relating to the throat done at Parkland Hospital. 

Dr.  Jenkins recalled:

"On my arrival in the emergency operating room at approximately 1230 I found that Doctors Carrico &/or Delaney had begun resuscitative efforts by introducing an orotracheal tube, connecting it for controlled ventilation to a Bennett intermittent positive pressure breathing apparatus. 


Doctors Charles Baxter, Malcolm Perry, & Robert McClelland arrived at the same time & began a tracheostomy...."

What is a tracheostomy & why is it done?  


According to Dr. Jerry Balentine at MedicineNet.com:

"A tracheostomy is a surgically created opening in the neck leading directly to the trachea (the breathing tube). It is maintained open with a hollow tube called a tracheostomy tube.

What should the appearance of the throat wound look like after removal of the tubes & what did it actually look like?


We would expect the wound would not look EXACTLY as it did before the procedures were completed.  That, however, might not be completely true.  


The following statement is taken from www.insidetheaarb:

"Dr. Charles Crenshaw, a third year resident at Parkland in 1963, told ABC's "20/20" news magazine in 1992 that after the tracheostomy tube & flange were removed from the President's neck following his death, that the very small incision made by Dr. Perry closed of its own volition, and that the bullet wound had NOT been obliterated and was still clearly visible."

JFK ASSASSINATION OPINION


The throat wound was "clearly visible" both before & after emergency treatment & as Dr. Perry said, the "small injury" would be consistent with a wound of entrance.


The answer to Question to Ponder #3 is clearly that all the medical personnel at Parkland could not have been mistaken in their view that JFK's throat wound was an entrance wound.


2 comments:

  1. The doctors were wrong about the throat wound, how could they be right if they never turned the President over to look for back wounds?

    The throat wound was a wound of exit and why would Trauma doctors care about the wounds when the only purpose of trauma is to stabilize victims for surgery?

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  2. You are right, the ER doctors main concern was the life of the patient, not to be forensic specialists, but they did see the wound & were experienced with entry & exit wounds, so their conclusion that the throat wound was one of entrance cannot be disregarded. Also there is no direct link from JFK's back wound to the throat wound so that turning him over is not an issue.

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