Charles Rufus Baxter (1930-2005)

[Don Roberdeau]

<QUOTE>

Surgeon who tried to save JFK dies at 75

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DALLAS -- Dr. Charles R. Baxter, one of the surgeons who tried to save President John F. Kennedy after he was shot, has died, a colleague said. He was 75.

The surgeon died Thursday of pneumonia at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, where he had been professor emeritus of surgery since 1993, said Dr. Robert Rege, chairman of surgery.

Baxter was the emergency room director at Parkland Memorial Hospital, where Kennedy was taken after being shot by Lee Harvey Oswald on Nov. 22, 1963.

"As soon as we realized we had nothing medical to do, we all backed off from the man with a reverence that one has for one's president," Baxter said in 1988. "And we did not continue to be doctors from that point on. We became citizens again, and there were probably more tears shed in that room than in the surrounding hundred miles."

Baxter then operated on Texas Gov. John Connally, who was seriously wounded by Oswald.

Baxter also developed a formula for burn patients. He discovered that patients with large, severe burns need tremendous amounts of the fluid the first day of treatment, especially during the first eight hours of their ordeal. He also also founded a tissue bank at Parkland hospital to provide skin grafts for burn patients.

<END QUOTE>

Don Roberdeau

U.S.S. John F. Kennedy, CV-67, "Big John" Plank Walker

Sooner, or later, the Truth emerges Clearly

http://members.aol.com/DRoberdeau/JFK/DP.jpg

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"A red-brown to black area of skin surrounds the wound, forming what is called an abrasion collar. It was caused by the bullet's scraping the margins of the skin on penetration and is characteristic of a gunshot wound of entrance. The abrasion collar is larger at the lower margin of the wound, evidence that the bullet's trajectory at the instant of penetration was slightly upward in relation to the body."

- 07HSCA175 describing President KENNEDY's, theorized, not-completely-probed, neck and back wounds

[Tim Gratz]

Don,

An interesting post, particulary the last paragraph quoting Dr. Baxter. Do you have the source of the quote?

"A red-brown to black area of skin surrounds the wound, forming what is called an abrasion collar. It was caused by the bullet's scraping the margins of the skin on penetration and is characteristic of a gunshot wound of entrance. The abrasion collar is larger at the lower margin of the wound, evidence that the bullet's trajectory at the instant of penetration was slightly upward in relation to the body."

Upward in relation to the body? How could this be? Which wound is he talking about as being an entrance wound here: the back wound or the neck room? Does anyone on the forum know if the doctor correct that if the abrasion collar is larger at the lower margin it necessarily indicates an upward trajectory?

[Robin Unger]

Don,

An interesting post, particulary the last paragraph quoting Dr. Baxter.  Do you have the source of the quote?

"A red-brown to black area of skin surrounds the wound, forming what is called an abrasion collar. It was caused by the bullet's scraping the margins of the skin on penetration and is characteristic of a gunshot wound of entrance. The abrasion collar is larger at the lower margin of the wound, evidence that the bullet's trajectory at the instant of penetration was slightly upward in relation to the body."

Upward in relation to the body?  How could this be?  Which wound is he talking about as being an entrance wound here: the back wound or the neck room?  Does anyone on the forum know if the doctor correct that if the abrasion collar is larger at the lower margin it necessarily indicates an upward trajectory?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Tim.

I used Dons Tag: - 07HSCA175

HSCA Volume 7 / 175

And i found this.

http://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk..._Vol7_0088a.htm

Edited March 13, 2005 by Robin Unger

[Don Roberdeau]

Good Day Robin.... In addition to the "88a.jpg" linked drawing, that HSCA section also shows the exact page 175, paragraph 465 that I secured the quote from....

http://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk..._Vol7_0093a.gif

....and the additional bullet/skin impact drawing examples....

http://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk..._Vol7_0088b.jpg

http://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk..._Vol7_0089a.jpg

Don Roberdeau

U.S.S. John F. Kennedy, CV-67, "Big John" Plank Walker

Sooner, or later, the Truth emerges Clearly

http://members.aol.com/DRoberdeau/JFK/DP.jpg

http://members.aol.com/DRoberdeau/JFK/ROSE...NOUNCEMENT.html

http://members.aol.com/DRoberdeau/JFK/BOND...PINGarnold.html

http://members.aol.com/DRoberdeau/JFK/GHOS...update2001.html

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Dr. DONALD THOMAS during his NID-2001 presentation, "Hear No Evil":

The x-ray of the President's head taken at the autopsy revealed a metal fragment on the outside of the cranium located 10 cm dorsad of the occipital protuberance. The scalp wound in apposition to this piece of metal was described in the autopsy facing sheet (07HSCA253) as "ragged, slanting" with an arrow indicating an upward trajectory. Dr. RUSSELL FISHER, the chairman of the forensic pathology panel appointed by Attorney General RAMSEY CLARK to review the autopsy materials concluded that the piece of metal was, "...most likely a ricochet fragment" (interview in Menninger pp. 64-66).

I am not a forensic pathologist, but Dr. FISHER's expert diagnosis meshes well with the filmed evidence of the President's reaction, the accounts of the eyewitnesses, and explains the ragged nature of the scalp wound. Or, we may choose to rely on the HSCA Forensic Pathology panel's expertise on how this piece of metal came to be lodged on the outside of the President's skull. The Warren Commission's doctors elected not to report this piece of metal in their autopsy protocol. The forensic pathology panel met with the Chief Prosector, JAMES HUMES, and asked him about the fragment and scalp lesion. Transcripts of the panel's discussion elicited the following opinion from Dr. GEORGE LOQUVAM:

COE: The reason we are so interested in this, Dr. Humes, is because other pathologists have interpreted the...

LOQUVAM (whispering in the background): I don't think this belongs in the damn record.

COE: Ahhh, it probably doesn't.

LOQUVAM: You guys are nuts. You guys are nuts writing this stuff. It doesn't belong in the damn record. (07HSCA255)

[Pat Speer]

To clarify the record: the HSCA originally determined that the back wound was below the neck wound. In order to make the single-bullet theory possible, however, Kennedy would have to have been leaning forward at the time of the first hit. The medical panel and the trajectory analyst, Thomas Canning, then got together and moved the wounds around a little bit, deciding that the neck wound was a little bit lower and the back wound was a little bit higher. This made the wound channel roughly straight across. To account for the downward trajectory of a bullet coming from the TSBD, they went ahead and decided that Kennedy must have been leaning forward when first hit, even though the Zapruder film reveals no such thing. What's worse, in order to make the head shot at frame 313 point back towards the TSBD, they decided to lift Kennedy's head to a point higher than that in the Zapruder film. Thus, the HSCA, in order to sell the American people that Oswald fired the fatal shots, determined that Kennedy was leaning forward, was shot in the back, then straightened up a little bit, only to be shot in the head. THIS IS THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT IS EASILY VISIBLE ON THE ZAPRUDER FILM. It seems everyone knows he slumped over AFTER being shot except the government's medical panel and the trajectory analyst from NASA. I'm currently updating my online seminar on the autopsy evidence. I will go into greater detail there.

[Tim Gratz]

Look forward to it, Pat! Concise and cogent post!