Hat Tip: Daniel Michael Torluemke
Here is an interview with a surgeon who tried to save John Lennon's life. He was wrong about the direction of the shots that killed Lennon - a good exercise in why autopsies are sometime necessary.
Here is an excerpt from a transcript: (4:18)
Banfield: I've only got a couple seconds left, but I'm very curious about this. My producer, who was speaking with you earlier, told me something I couldn't believe. Only recently, you read the autopsy report and saw that he was shot from the back, but the hollow point bullets that his killer used are so destructive, you thought he was shot from the front.
Dr. David Halleran: I thought he was shot from the front. And I believed that until about a few years ago, when actually it is a British news service that interviewed me, that actually had gotten a copy of the ME's report, Dr. Elliott Gross's report, and according to the autopsy, he was shot from the back. Now that you could argue that there was one that was sort of on the side. It could have been either or, and at the time, we were, you know, we didn't have the luxury of doing an autopsy. We're trying to save him at the time. But that was my impression for many years.
THE ODDS that a trauma specialist will correctly interpret certain fatal gunshot wounds are no better than the flip of a coin, according to a recent study at a level 1 trauma center. The study, which looked at single, perforating (exiting) gunshot wounds and multiple gunshot wounds, found that trauma specialists made errors in 52% of the cases, either in differentiating the entrance and exit wound, or in determining the number of bullets that struck the victim.
I was able to find a bit more of the text from this article:
CLINICIANS' FORENSIC INTERPRETATIONS OF FATAL GUNSHOT WOUNDS OFTEN
MISS THE MARK.
The odds that a trauma specialist will correctly interpret certain fatal gunshot wound are no better than the flip of a coin, according to a recent study at a level 1 trauma center. The study, which looked at single, perforating (exiting) gunshot wounds and multiple gunshot wounds, found that trauma specialists made errors in 52% of the cases, either in differentiating the entrance and exit wound, or in determining the number of bullets
that struck the victim.
Investigators at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, compared the postmortem findings of a board-certified forensic pathologist with the medical records of emergency medicine physicians, trauma surgeons, and neurosurgeons. The study is the first to quantify the forensic acumen of these specialists, says Vincent DiMaio, MD, a forensic pathologist and editor of THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF FORENSIC MEDICINE AND PATHOLOGY.
The study's coauthors . . . investigated the fatal gunshot wounds treated by trauma specialists at the hospital between January 1987 and June 1992. They excluded single penetrating (nonexiting) gunshot wounds from the study.
Of the 46 cases identified, 24 had been misinterpreted by the trauma specialists. These included 16 errors in differentiating the exit and entrance wound, and 15 errors in determining the number of bullets. In seven cases, the clinician had made both
types of errors.
As expected, multiple gunshot wounds were more often misinterpreted--74% of the time. Of the single, perforating gunshot wounds, 37% had been misclassified.
The researchers presented their results at the recent annual meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences in Boston, Mass.
Previous Relevant Blog Posts on the Medical Evidence
Wecht complains about the HSCA's forensic pathology panel.
Wecht has a suggestion for Dr. Baden.
Wecht's memoir mentions his examination of the autopsy materials in 1972 but neglects to talk about his conclusion that the fatal head shot came from behind.
James DiEugenio's obituary of Dr. Wecht leaves out his conclusion that the fatal head shot came from behind.
Dr. Cyril Wecht (1931 - 2024) ×–×™×›×¨×•× ×• לברכה
My obituary for Dr. Cyril Wecht.
A letter from Dr. Wecht to Thomas Stamm on the head shot.
A letter from Dr. Wecht to Sylvia Meagher on the head shot.
Dr. Wecht believes that JFK's throat wound was one of exit.
Dr. Robert Kirschner's consultation with the ARRB explains a mystery in the documentary.
JFK Revisited makes a big deal about the weight of JFK's brain and ignores a non-conspiratorial explanation.
Oliver Stone's so-called documentary makes it sound like the autopsy photographer said that he did not take the photos of JFK's brain that are in the current inventory,
Oliver Stone's so-called documentary series, JFK: Destiny Betrayed, features Dr. Charles Crenshaw to bolster its claim that President Kennedy was shot from the front. Viewers are not informed of Dr. Crenshaw's credibility problems.
Oliver Stone's so-called documentary, JFK: Destiny Betrayed, misleads viewers on the opinions of Parkland Hospital doctors and Bethesda witnesses regarding JFK's head wound.
Oliver Stone's so-called documentary series, JFK: Destiny Betrayed, misleads viewers into thinking the Harper fragment was occipital bone that came from the back of Kennedy's head.
Have a look at Dr. Joseph Dolce's bad judgment
Oliver Stone's so-called documentary series JFK: Destiny Betrayed uses a variety of supposed witnesses to allege that the wound in the back of Kennedy's head was one of exit. Audrey Bell is one such witness and she doesn't have much credibility.
Oliver Stone's so-called documentary series, JFK: Destiny Betrayed, tries to make the case that because Parkland Hospital doctors saw cerebellum extruding from Kennedy's head wound, that it indicated an exit wound.
While Gerald Ford edited some language in the Warren Report, he did not change the location of the back wound. Autopsy photographs show exactly the location of the back wound.
Oliver Stone's so-called documentary series, JFK: Destiny Betrayed, alleges that autopsy pathologists were told to fit the wounds to a presupposed conclusion.
A podcast with Robert Wagner who has written an important book on the medical evidence.