Jump to content
The Education Forum

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 30
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted
Okay, I'll give a hint... it has to do with the red stars.

Umm ... he was a Communist?

Posted

Since the red stars are on the left side of Lincoln's head...and the primary damage to JFK's head was in the back, top, and right sides...no, I don't see the correlation.

Unless you're referring to substantial amounts of dark hair, that JFK and Lincoln apparently had in common...I just don't see it.

Posted
lincolnkennedy-full.jpg

Okay, I'll give a hint... it has to do with the red stars.

Pat, in the left photo the star appears to be directly above the ear, whereas in the upright photo of President Lincoln, the star appears to be above and back of the ear. Were the wounds in Lincoln's case placed inconsistently? (Not a student of the Lincoln case)

Best,

Royce Bierma

Posted (edited)
lincolnkennedy-full.jpg

Okay, I'll give a hint... it has to do with the red stars.

Pat, in the left photo the star appears to be directly above the ear, whereas in the upright photo of President Lincoln, the star appears to be above and back of the ear. Were the wounds in Lincoln's case placed inconsistently? (Not a student of the Lincoln case)

Best,

Royce Bierma

That's it, Royce. In the Lincoln image at left I placed the red star directly above his ear, in the location of the wound on Kennedy's head in the autopsy photos. In the Lincoln image at right I placed it on the back of his head, in the location many of the Parkland witnesses believed was the location of Kennedy's head wound. The backwards lean of Lincoln in the first image, which shifts the wound above the ear to a position behind the ear in lateral space, however, confuses people as to its actual location. Most people look at this image and think the two stars are in the same location.

The inability of people to accurately judge the spatial relationship of marks on the face when the face is turned sideways has been well-documented, and is discussed in chapter 19 at patspeer.com. The problems associated with this at Parkland were only amplified by Kennedy's being turned almost upside down. According to Jenkins, they put him in the Trendelenburg Position.

trendelenburg-full.jpg

As far as Lincoln, the doctors differed on whether it was on the right or left side, but the bullet purportedly entered behind the ear, and not on top of the ear.

Edited by Pat Speer
Posted
Pat Speer Posted Today, 08:54 AM

That's it, Royce. In the Lincoln image at left I placed the red star directly above his ear, in the location of the wound on Kennedy's head in the autopsy photos. In the Lincoln image at right I placed it on the back of his head, in the location many of the Parkland witnesses believed was the location of Kennedy's head wound. The backwards lean of Lincoln in the first image, which shifts the wound above the ear to a position behind the ear in lateral space, however, confuses people as to its actual location. Most people look at this image and think the two stars are in the same location.

The inability of people to accurately judge the spatial relationship of marks on the face when the face is turned sideways has been well-documented, and is discussed in chapter 19 at patspeer.com. The problems associated with this at Parkland were only amplified by Kennedy's being turned almost upside down. According to Jenkins, they put him in the Trendelenburg Position.

Pat I would agree that "people" may be confused as to the exact location of such a wound. Especially, when considering the wound in Kennedy's head was fairly large, especially compared to the size if the star in your Lincoln picture.

However, I have a hard time understanding why highly professional Dr.'s who typically work in the Emergency rooms of a major city would be so confused about this location. That is especially when the issue is brought up later for discussion - and the Dr.'s will stand firm with what they have previously stated.

What do you think of the statement (I forget by whom) that parts of Kennedy's cerebellum was protruding from the head wound?

Posted
Pat I would agree that "people" may be confused as to the exact location of such a wound. Especially, when considering the wound in Kennedy's head was fairly large, especially compared to the size if the star in your Lincoln picture.

However, I have a hard time understanding why highly professional Dr.'s who typically work in the Emergency rooms of a major city would be so confused about this location. That is especially when the issue is brought up later for discussion - and the Dr.'s will stand firm with what they have previously stated.

What do you think of the statement (I forget by whom) that parts of Kennedy's cerebellum was protruding from the head wound?

McClelland's story of seeing cerebellum makes a lot more sense if he was looking down into the top of Kennedy's head, as depicted on the Trendelenburg slide. The story as told by McClelland--that he was looking down into a wound on the BACK of Kennedy's head, from above, while Kennedy was laying flat on his back--makes no sense. Of course, if he was looking down into Kennedy's skull while Kennedy was in the Trendelenburg position he would not be looking at cerebellum, but cerebrum. As McClelland claimed to have seen a chunk of cerebellum fall from the head, and no such chunk of cerebellum was missing from the brain in the photos taken of the brain, it only makes sense that what he saw was a chunk of macerated cerebrum. That cerebrum was missing is confirmed by the photos.

Posted

Pat ASSUMES that the body was only in ONE supine position, when in

fact it was turned and handled and moved several times. Testimony

of nurses tell how the body was moved, cleaned and how it was wrapped in a

sheet. The Parkland personnel looked at it closeup and from many angles.

Their testimony is explicit. Why theorize?

At Bethesda, it was turned on its side for photos.

Jack

Posted

To add to Jack's comment, the President was also helped out of the limo onto a sretcher by Parkland staff. This situation gave a good visual in broad daylight from different angles.

The ambulance driver who helped put the body into a coffin described the back of the wrapped head as soft.

Posted

It is not true that the Parkland doctors inspected Kennedy's wounds from many angles. He was already laying on a stretcher when they came in the room, and they left the room after his death was declared. He was never turned over during treatment. The only ones to see his wounds during the cleaning, if I recall, were two nurses and an orderly, none of whom made a written description of his wounds on 11-22.

Clint Hill covered Kennedy's head with his jacket before he was removed from the limousine. Nobody got a good look at his head wounds till Clark arrived in the ER minutes later. No one stuck around to look at it after his death was declared.

Posted (edited)
Pat Speer Posted Today, 10:18 AM

It is not true that the Parkland doctors inspected Kennedy's wounds from many angles. He was already laying on a stretcher when they came in the room, and they left the room after his death was declared. He was never turned over during treatment. The only ones to see his wounds during the cleaning, if I recall, were two nurses and an orderly, none of whom made a written description of his wounds on 11-22.

Clint Hill covered Kennedy's head with his jacket before he was removed from the limousine. Nobody got a good look at his head wounds till Clark arrived in the ER minutes later. No one stuck around to look at it after his death was declared.

Ok Pat, the Doctors treated Kennedy while he was on his back, however a nurse and an orderly together with SS helped the President onto the strecher from the limo, this was in broad daylight, mid day and Clint's coat did apparently not cover the President all the time. Please remember the consistency in the description of the location of the wound; occipital-parietal, grape fruit size gaping wound. I undesrtand that small discrepancies may exist, especially when the wound is fairly large, however I can not see how it could be confused completely from being in the back to being on the side of the head......

Nurse Bowron's testimony jives with what most of the Dr's said.

Nurse Diana Bowron at the limousine at Parkland:

Mr. SPECTER - And describe in a general way Governor Connally's condition when you first saw him?

Miss BOWRON - He was very pale, he was leaning forward and onto Mrs. Connally but apparently---I didn't notice very much---I was more concerned with the person in the back of the car---the President.

Mr. SPECTER - And what, in a general way, did you observe with respect to President Kennedy's condition?

Miss BOWRON - He was very pale, he was lying across Mrs. Kennedy's knee and there seemed to be blood everywhere. When I went around to the other side of the car I saw the condition of his head.

Mr. SPECTER - You saw the condition of his what?

Miss BOWRON - The back of his head.

Mr. SPECTER - And what was that condition?

Miss BOWRON - Well, it was very bad---you know.

Mr. SPECTER - How many holes did you see?

Miss BOWRON - I just saw one large hole.

This is available from:

http://jfkassassination.net/russ/testimony/bowron.htm

Edited by Antti Hynonen
Posted (edited)

Hello Antti:

You may be interested in this article.......This is only part one, the next is on LHO, and the third

John Connally, which I have never found.....all attended as you know at Parkland...

This article is originally from the alts, I found it some years back, it was posted by thanks to Michael Parks.

........It came from "The Texas State Journal of Medicine", dated January, 1964.

It was written in late November/early December, 1963 before the 'OFFICIAL' story was set in stone.

I have been told, it is somewhat different, in content in some regards, than how it is Now Found on the web.?

If it can be found..........Though I have not checked...it is possible it could be....

Thanks....B

Michael Parks..

THREE PATIENTS at PARKLAND

PARKLAND Memorial Hospital, Dallas, treats an average of 272 emergency cases a day. It is

adjacent to and is the major teaching hospital for the University of Texas Southwestern Medical

School. It is staffed by the faculty of the medical school and has 150 interns and residents in

all medical specialties. It is a modern hospital, well equipped, one of which any community

might be proud. Today and for none of these reasons-Parkland has a new reputation all over the

world, and historians are typing its name into manuscripts that will be textbooks for

generations to come. This has happened because three particular gunshot victims were carried

there out of the bright November sunlight, two to die and the third to leave by wheelchair

almost two weeks later, his arm in a sling.

Many Texas physicians have visited Parkland hospital; many have worked or trained there.

Members of the Parkland staff are their acquaintances and friends. Many Texas physicians know

personally the surviving gunshot victim, Gov. John Connally; some personally knew President John

F. Kennedy, who died in Trauma Room 1; perhaps a few even knew Lee Harvey Oswald, the man

charged by Dallas authorities with the assassination of the President and who was himself shot

two days later.

The assassination of President Kennedy, the wounding of Governor Connally, and the fatal

shooting of Oswald are events of profound import to people everywhere, but they have special,

personal meaning for Texans. So because a Texas hospital and Texas physicians figured

prominently in this tragedy, the Texas State Journal of Medicine records for its readers of the

medical profession a full account of treatment given a never-to-be-forgotten trio.

When President John F. Kennedy in a moribund condition entered Parkland on Nov. 22, there was

never opportunity for medical history taking. Such a history, had it been taken, would have

shown that the patient "had survived several illnesses, the danger of war, the rigor of exposure

in icy water, and . . . had waged grueling electoral campaigns in spite of a serious and painful

back injury."

Parkland records show that the President arrived at the emergency room sometime after 12:30

p.m. (There is conflict as to the exact moment.) At 1 p.m. Dr. William Kemp Clark, associate

professor and chairman of the Division of Neurosurgery of the University of Texas Southwestern

Medical School, declared him dead. During the interim of less than 30 minutes, continuous

resuscitative efforts were made.

Later that day, several attending physicians filed reports. The following identifies these

physicians and gives the gist of their reports:

Charles J Carrico - Dr. Carrico was the first physician to see the President. A 1961 graduate

of Southwestern Medical School, he is 28 and a resident in surgery at Parkland.

He reported that when the patient entered the emergency room on an ambulance carriage he had

slow agonal respiratory efforts and occasional cardiac beats detectable by auscultation. Two

external wounds were noted; one a small wound of the anterior neck in the lower one third. The

other wound had caused avulsion of the occipitoparietal calvarium and shredded brain tissue was

present with profuse oozing. No pulse or blood pressure were present. Pupils were bilaterally

dilated and fixed. A cuffed endotracheal tube was inserted through the laryngoscope. A ragged

wound of the trachea was seen immediately below the larynx. The tube was advanced past the

laceration and the cuff inflated. Respiration was instituted using a respirator assistor on

automatic cycling. Concurrently, an intravenous infusion of lactated Ringer's solution was

begun via catheter placed in the right leg. Blood was drawn for typing and crossmatching. Type

0 Rh negative blood was obtained immediately.

In view of the tracheal injury and diminished breath sounds in the right chest, tracheostomy

was performed by Dr. Malcolm 0. Perry and bilateral chest tubes inserted. A second intravenous

infusion was begun in the left arm. In addition, Dr. M. T. Jenkins began respiration with the

anesthesia machine, cardiac monitor and stimulator attached. Solu-Cortef (300 mg.) was given

intravenously. Despite those measures, blood pressure never returned. Only brief

electrocardiographic evidence of cardiac activity was obtained.

Malcolm 0. Perry - Dr. Perry is an assistant professor of surgery at Southwestern Medical

School from which he received his degree in 1955. He I9 34 years old and was certified by the

American Board of Surgery in 1963.

At the time of initial examination of the President, Dr. Perry has stated, the patient was

noted to be nonresponsive . His eyes were deviated and the pupils dilated. A considerable

quantity of blood was noted on the patient, the carriage, and the floor. A small wound was

noted in the midline of the neck in the lower third anteriorly. It was exuding blood slowly. A

large wound of the right posterior cranium was noted, exposing severely lacerated brain. Brain

tissue was noted in the blood at the head of the carriage.

Pulse or heart beat were not detectable but slow spasmodic respiration was noted. An

endotracheal tube was in place and respiration was being controlled. An intravenous infusion

was being placed in the leg. While additional venesections were done to administer fluids and

blood, a tracheostomy was effected. A right lateral injury to the trachea was noted. The

cuffed tracheostomy tube was put in place as the endotracheal tube was withdrawn and

respirations continued. Closed chest cardiac massage was instituted after placement of

sealed-drainage chest tubes, but without benefit. When electrocardiogram evaluation revealed

that no detectable electrical activity existed in the heart, resuscitative attempts were

abandoned. The team of physicians determined that the patient had expired.

Charles R. Baxter - Dr. Baxter is an assistant professor of surgery at Southwestern Medical

School where he first arrived as a medical student in 1950. Except for two years away in the

Army he has been at Southwestern and Parkland ever since, moving up from student to intern to

resident to faculty member. He is 34 and was certified by the American Board of Surgery in 1963.

Recalling his attendance to President Kennedy, he says he learned at approximately 12 :35

that the President was on the way to the emergency room and that he had been shot. When Dr.

Baxter arrived in the emergency room, he found an endotracheal tube in place and respirations

being assisted. A left chest tube was being inserted and cut-downs were functioning in one leg

and in the left arm. The President had a wound in the midline of the neck. On first

observation of the other wounds, portions of the right temporal and occipital bones were missing

and some of the brain was lying on the table. The rest of the brain was extensively macerated

and contused. The pupils were fixed and deviated laterally and were dilated. No pulse was

detectable and ineffectual respirations were being assisted. A tracheostomy was performed by

Dr. Perry and Dr. Baxter and a chest tube was inserted into the right chest (second interspace

anteriorly). Meanwhile one pint of O negative blood was administered without response. When

all of these measures were complete, no heart beat could be detected. Closed chest massage was

performed until a cardioscope could be attached. Brief cardiac activity was obtained followed

by no activity. Due to the extensive and irreparable brain damage which existed and since there

were no signs of life, no further attempts were made at resuscitation.

Robert N. McClelland - Dr. McClelland, 34, assistant professor of surgery at Southwestern

Medical School, is a graduate of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. He has

served with the Air Force in Germany and was certified by the American Board of Surgery in 1963.

Regarding the assassination of President Kennedy, Dr. McClelland says that at approximately

12:35 p.m. he was called from the second floor of the hospital to the emergency room. When he

arrived, President Kennedy was being attended by Drs. Perry, Baxter, Carrico, and Ronald Jones,

chief resident in surgery. The President was at that time comatose from a massive gunshot wound

of the head with a fragment wound of the trachea. An endotracheal tube had been placed and

assisted respiration started by Dr. Carrico who was on duty in the emergency room when the

President arrived. Drs. Perry, Baxter, and McClelland performed a tracheostomy for respiratory

distress and tracheal injury. Dr. Jones and Dr. Paul Peters, assistant professor of surgery, ;

inserted bilateral anterior chest tubes for pneumothoraces secondary to the tracheo-mediastinal

injury. Dr. Jones and assistants had started three cutdowns, giving blood and fluids

immediately. In spite of this, the President was pronounced dead at 1:00 p.m. by Dr. Clark, the

neurosurgeon, who arrived immediately after Dr. McClelland. The cause of death, according to

Dr. McClelland was the massive head and brain injury from a gunshot wound of the right side of

the head. The President was pronounced dead after external cardiac massage failed and

electrocardiographic activity was gone.

Fouad A, Bashour - Dr. Bashour received his medical education at the University of Beirut

School of Medicine in Lebanon. He is 39 and an associate professor of medicine in cardiology at

Southwestern Medical School.

At 12 :50 p.m. Dr. Bashour was called from the first floor of the hospital and told that

President Kennedy had been shot. He and Dr. Donald Seldin, professor and chairman of the

Department of Internal Medicine, went to the emergency room. Upon examination, they found that

the President had no pulsations, no heart beats, no blood pressure. The oscilloscope showed a

complete standstill. The President was declared dead at 1:00 p.m.

William Kemp Clark - Dr. Clark is associate professor and chairman of the Division of

Neurosurgery at Southwestern Medical School. The 38-year-old physician has done research on

head injuries and has been at Southwestern since 1956.

He reports this account of the President's treatment:

The President arrived at the emergency room entrance in the back seat of his limousine.

Governor Connally of Texas was also in this car. The first physician to see the President was

Dr. Carrico.

Dr. Carrico noted the President to have slow, agonal respiratory efforts. He could hear a

heart beat but found no pulse or blood pressure. Two external wounds, one in the lower third of

the anterior neck, the other in the occipital region of the skull, were noted. Through the head

wound, blood and brain were extruding. Dr. Carrico inserted a cuffed endotracheal tube and

while doing so, he noted a ragged wound of the trachea immediately below the larynx.

At this time, Drs. Perry, Baxter, and Jones arrived. Immediately thereafter, Dr. Jenkins and

Drs. A. H. Giesecke, Jr., and Jackie H. Hunt, two other staff anesthesiologists, arrived. The

endotracheal tube had been connected to a respirator to assist the President's breathing. An

anesthesia machine was substituted for this by Dr. Jenkins. Only 100 per cent oxygen was

administered.

A cutdown was performed in the right ankle, and a polyethylene catheter inserted in the vein.

An infusion of lactated Ringer's solution was begun. Blood was drawn for typing and

crossmatching, but unmatched type O Rh negative blood was immediately obtained and begun.

Hydrocortisone (300

mg.) was added to the intravenous fluids.

Dr. McClelland arrived to help in the President's care. Drs. Perry, Baxter, and McClelland

did a tracheostomy. Considerable quantities of blood were present in the President's oral

pharynx. At this time, Dr. Peters and Dr. Clark arrived.

Dr. Clark noted that the President had bled profusely from the back of the head. There was a

large (3 by 3 cm.) amount of cerebral tissue present on the cart. There was a smaller amount of

cerebellar tissue present also.

The tracheostomy was completed and the endotracheal tube was withdrawn. Suction was used to

remove blood in the oral pharynx. A nasogastric tube was passed into the stomach. Because of

the likelihood of mediastinal injury, anterior chest tubes were placed in both pleural spaces.

These were connected to sealed underwater drainage.

Neurological examination revealed the President's pupils to be widely dilated and fixed to

light. His eyes were divergent, being deviated outward; a skew deviation from the horizontal

was present. No deep tendon reflexes or spontaneous movements were found.

When Dr. Clark noted that there was no carotid pulse, he began closed chest massage. A pulse

was obtained at the carotid and femoral levels.

Dr. Perry then took over the cardiac massage so that Dr. Clark could evaluate the head wound.

There was a large wound beginning in the right occiput extending into the parietal region.

Much of the right posterior skull, at brief examination, appeared gone. The previously

described extruding brain was present. Profuse bleeding had occurred and 1500 cc. of blood was

estimated to be on the drapes and floor of the emergency operating room. Both cerebral and

cerebellar tissue were extruding from the wound.

By this time an electrocardiograph was hooked up. There was brief electrical activity of the

heart which soon stopped.

The President was pronounced dead at 1:00 p.m. by Dr. Clark.

M. T. Jenkins - Dr. Jenkins is professor and chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology at

Southwestern Medical School. He is 46, a graduate of the University of Texas Medical Branch in

Galveston, and was certified by the American Board of Anesthesiology in 1952. During World War

II he served in the Navy as a lieutenant commander.

When Dr. Jenkins was notified that the President was being brought to the emergency room at

Parkland, he dispatched Drs. Giesecke and Hunt with an anesthesia machine and resuscitative

equipment to the major surgical emergency room area. He ran downstairs to find upon his arrival

in the emergency operating room that Dr. Carrico had begun resuscitative efforts by introducing

an orotracheal tube, connecting it for controlled ventilation to a Bennett intermittent positive

pressure breathing apparatus. Drs. Baxter, Perry, and McClelland arrived at the same time and

began a tracheostomy and started the insertion of a right chest tube, since there was also

obvious tracheal and chest damage. Drs. Peters and Clark arrived simultaneously and immediately

thereafter assisted respectively with the insertion of the right chest tube and with manual

closed chest cardiac compression to assure circulation. Dr. Jenkins believes it evidence of the

clear thinking of the resuscitative team that the patient received 300 mg. hydrocortisone

intravenously in the first few minutes.

For better control of artificial ventilation, Dr. Jenkins exchanged the intermittent positive

pressure breathing apparatus for an anesthesia machine and continued artificial ventilation.

Dr. Gene Akin, a resident in anesthesiology, and Dr. Giesecke connected a cardioscope to

determine cardiac activity.

During the progress of these activities, the emergency room cart was elevated at the feet in

order to provide a Trendelenburg position, a venous cutdown was performed on the right saphenous

vein and additional fluids were begun in a vein in the left forearm while blood was ordered from

the blood bank. All of these activities were completed by approximately 12:50 at which time

external cardiac massage was still being carried out effectively by Dr. Clark as judged by a

palpable peripheral pulse. Despite these measures there was only brief electrocardiographic

evidence of cardiac activity.

These described resuscitative activities were indicated as of first importance, and after

they were carried out, attention was turned to other evidences of injury. There was a great

laceration on the right side of the head (temporal and occipital), causing a great defect in the

skull plate so that there was herniation and laceration of great areas of the brain, even to the

extent that part of the right cerebellum had protruded from the wound. There were also

fragmented sections of brain on the drapes of the emergency room cart. With the institution of

adequate cardiac compression, there was a great flow of blood from the cranial cavity,

indicating that there was much vascular damage as well as brain tissue damage. President

Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1 p.m.

It is Dr. Jenkins' personal feeling that all methods of resuscitation were instituted

expeditiously and efficiently. However, he says, the cranial and intracranial damage was of

such magnitude as to cause irreversible damage.

**********************

Point your mouse over the skull x-ray.....for information....

See #4 ON XRAY -- OCCIPITAL IS ALWAYS THE MOST POSTERIOR BONE --

http://anatomy.med.umich.edu/radiology/hea...l_lateral.html# Hypophyseal fossa

Axis

Odontoid process

External occipital protuberance

Temporal bone

B......

Edited by Bernice Moore
Posted

Thanks Bernice,

Talk about a picture worth a thousand words!

I do find it interesting (and telling!) that more than one Dr. (if I am reading this correctly) mentions cerebellum protruding out of the wound. To me, this is a reinforcing statement regarding the location of the head wound.

As we all remember from our biology classes, the cerebellum is located in the back of the head and below the rest of the brain, roughly below the occiput.

See below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebellum

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...