Dr. Robert McCleland - to Receive CAPA's "Profile in Courage" Award for 2018
Dr. Robert McCleland, one of the first physicians to work on John F. Kennedy at Parkland Hospital, will be the recipient of the "Profile in Courage" Award from CAPA - Citizens Against Political Assassinations, as a CAPA sponsored all day symposium at the Old Red Court House at Dealey Plaza on Thursday, November 15.
CAPA's "Last Living Witnesses" event may be the last time the still living Parkland doctors and nurses will meet together.
Dr. Bob McClelland in 2013
Dr. McClelland holds the shirt he wore on Nov. 22, 1963, still stained with JFK's blood.
So, he stood, holding the bleeding, injured head of the President of the United States. The wound was huge, gaping.
And five minutes later, the mortally wounded Kennedy went into cardiac arrest.
Dr. McClelland is a 1954 graduate of The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Following his internship at the University of Kansas Medical Center and two years of military service in the Air Force in Germany, he completed his residency in general surgery at Parkland Memorial Hospital. He then completed a one-year fellowship in splanchnic hemodynamics with Dr. Fouad Bashour, in the Department of Internal Medicine, at UT Southwestern. He was appointed to the faculty of UT Southwestern Medical Center in 1962 and is the first faculty member to hold the Alvin Baldwin Jr. Chair in Surgery, an endowment designated for support of surgical education. His primary interests lie in gastrointestinal surgery and in postgraduate medical education. As originator and editor of Audio-Journal Review ¿ General Surgery and Selected Readings in General Surgery, his influence as a medical educator extends beyond the department into surgical training programs throughout the country.
“I was about 18 inches above that wound. I got a better look at it than anybody in that room. It was way back in the back (of the head), which may lead to the thought that he was shot not only from the back, but also from the front,” McClelland said.
“In other words, there was more than one gunman, and therefore a conspiracy of some sort. And I looked into that wound for a long time, and there is no doubt what I saw,” he said.
McClelland felt his opinion was validated when he watched the famous home movie by Abraham Zapruder when it first aired on television in 1975.
“The first bullet hit him in the back, not in the front as we thought at the time,” he said. “Several seconds later, the second shot hits him and his head literally explodes, and he was thrown violently backward and to the left as you would expect someone hit by a high-caliber bullet from the front, not from above and behind.”
To McClelland, who has seen a lot of bullet wounds throughout his medical career, there was never any other interpretation than that the second bullet hit Kennedy from the front and that the gaping hole he saw on the back of the head was an exit wound. “It would have had to come in from the picket fence on the grassy knoll, in my view of it,” he said.
McClelland believes there were at least two shooters. “Whether there was anything else, I have no opinion on that,” he said.
When McClelland saw Kennedy on the operating table, it wasn’t the first time he had encountered him. In 1963, he saw him from a distance, when Kennedy visited a U.S. senator who had undergone surgery at Parkland.
In a strange twist, McClelland not only did work on Kennedy and Oswald — years later, he also performed cancer surgery on Zapruder.
THE EARLIEST REPORTS
(THE MEDICAL EVIDENCE)
EXCERPTED FROM "JFK: The Medical Evidence Reference" (339 pages)]
By Vincent M. Palamara
3) Dr. Robert Nelson McClelland, Attending Surgeon:
a) WR 526-527 / 17 H 11-12 / CE 392: report written 11/22/63---" a
massive gunshot wound of the head with a fragment wound of the
trachea The cause of death was due to massive head and brain injury from
a gunshot wound of the left temple.";
b) "St. Louis Post-Dispatch", 12/1/63---"This [the neck wound] did
appear to be an entrance wound."
c)e) 6 H 33-34, 35, 37 / testimony---" I could very closely examine the
THREE PATIENTS at PARKLAND
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.
http://www.jfklancer.com/3Patients.html
As 50th Anniversary Of Assassination Approaches, Surgeon Who Treated JFK Remembers
November 19, 2013 4:03 PM
Treatment of President Kennedy
The first physician to see the President at Parkland Hospital was Dr.
Charles J. Carrico, a resident in general surgery.192 Dr. Carrico was in
the emergency area, examining another patient, when he was notified that
President Kennedy was en route to the hospital. 193 Approximately 2
minutes later, Dr. Carrico saw the President on his back, being wheeled
into the emergency area.194 He noted that the President was blue-white or
ashen in color; had slow, spasmodic, agonal respiration without any
coordination; made no voluntary movements; had his eyes open with the
pupils dilated without any reaction to light; evidenced no palpable pulse; and had a few chest sounds which
were thought to be heart beats.195 On the basis of these findings, Dr.
Carrico concluded that President Kennedy was still alive.196
Dr. Carrico noted two wounds: a small bullet wound in the front lower
neck, and an extensive wound in the President's head where a sizable
portion of the skull was missing.197 He observed shredded brain tissue and
"considerable slow oozing" from the latter wound, followed by "more
profuse bleeding" after some circulation was established.198 Dr. Carrico
felt the President's back and determined that there was no large wound
there which would be an immediate threat to life.199 Observing the serious
problems presented by the head wound and inadequate respiration, Dr.
Carrico directed his attention to improving the President's breathing.200
He noted contusions, hematoma to the right of the larynx, which was
deviated slightly to the left, and also ragged tissue which indicated a
tracheal injury.201 Dr. Carrico inserted a cuffed endotracheal tube past
the injury, inflated the cuff, and connected it to a Bennett machine to
assist in respiration.202
At that point, direction of the President's treatment was undertaken by
Dr. Malcolm O. Perry, who arrived at trauma room 1 a few moments after the
President.203 Dr. Perry noted the President's back brace as he felt for a
femoral pulse, which he did not find.0204 Observing that an effective
airway had to be established if treatment was to be effective, Dr. Perry
performed a tracheotomy, which required 3 to 5 minutes.205 While Dr. Perry
was performing the tracheotomy, Drs. Carrico and Ronald Jones made
cutdowns on the President's right leg and left arm, respectively, to
infuse blood and fluids into the circulatory system.206 Dr. Carrico
treated the President's known ad-renal insufficiency by administering
hydrocortisone.207 Dr. Robert N. McClelland entered at that point and
assisted Dr. Perry with the tracheotomy.208
Dr. Fouad Bashour, chief of cardiology, Dr. M. T. Jenkins, chief of
anesthesiology, and Dr. A. H. Giesecke, Jr., then joined in the effort to
revive the President.0209 When Dr. Perry noted free air and blood in the
President's chest cavity, he asked that chest tubes be inserted to allow
for drainage of blood and air. Drs. Paul C. Peters and Charles R. Baxter
initiated these procedures.210 As a result of the infusion of liquids
through the cutdowns, the cardiac massage, and the airway, the doctors
were able to maintain peripheral circulation as monitored at the neck
(carotid) artery and at the wrist (radial) pulse. A femoral pulse was also
detected in the President's leg.211 While these medical efforts were in
progress, Dr. Clark noted some electrical activity on the cardiotachyscope
attached to monitor the President's heart responses.212 Dr. Clark, who
most closely observed the head wound, described a large, gaping wound in
the right rear part of the head, with substantial damage and exposure of
brain tissue, and a considerable loss of blood.213 Dr. Clark did not see
any other hole or wound on the President's head. According to Dr.
Clark,
the small bullet hole on the right rear. of the President's head discovered during the subsequent autopsy "could have easily been hidden in the blood and hair"
In the absence of any neurological, muscular, or heart response, the doctors concluded that efforts to revive the President were hopeless.215 This was verified by Admiral Burkley, the President's physician, who arrived at the hospital after emergency treatment was underway and concluded that "my direct services to him at that moment would have interfered with the action of the team which was in progress." 216 At approximately 1 p.m., after last rites were administered to the President by Father Oscar L. Huber, Dr. Clark pronounced the President dead. He made the official determination because the ultimate cause of death, the severe head injury, was within his sphere of specialization.217 The time was fixed at 1 p.m., as an approximation, since it was impossible to determine the precise moment when life left the President.218 President Kennedy could have survived the neck injury, but the head wound was fatal.219 From a medical viewpoint, President Kennedy was alive when he arrived at Parkland Hospital; the doctors observed that he had a heart beat and was making some respiratory efforts.220 But his condition was hopeless, and the extraordinary efforts of the doctors to save him could not help but to have been unavailing.
Since the Dallas doctors directed all their efforts to controlling the massive bleeding caused by the head wound, and to reconstructing an airway to his lungs, the President remained on his back throughout his medical treatment at Parkland.221 When asked why he did not turn the President over, Dr. Carrico testified as follows:
A. This man was in obvious extreme distress and any more thorough inspection would have involved several minutes--well, several--considerable time which at this juncture was not available. A thorough inspection would have involved washing and cleansing the back, and this is not practical in treating an acutely injured patient. You have to determine which things, which are immediately life threatening and cope with them, before attempting to evaluate the full extent of the injuries.
Q. Did you ever have occasion to look at the President's back A. No, sir. Before--well, in trying to treat an acutely injured patient, you have to establish an airway, adequate ventilation and you have to establish adequate circulation. Before this was accomplished the President's cardiac activity had ceased and closed cardiac massage was instituted, which made it impossible to inspect his back.
Q. Was any effort made to inspect the President's back after he had expired?
A. No, sir.
Q. And why was no effort made at that time to inspect his back?
A. I suppose nobody really had the heart to do it.
Moreover, the Parkland doctors took no further action after the President had expired because they concluded that it was beyond the scope of their permissible duties.
https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/chapter-2.html
Surgeon in ER insists 2 gunmen shot JFK
Doctor first to see Kennedy's wound
October 18, 2013
JFK Murder Solved Forum
A forum to discuss the information presented on JFKmurderSolved.com
http://forum.jfkmurdersolved.com/viewtopic.php?p=40481
Dr. Robert McClelland in Trauma Room One
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50th Anniversary Report in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Includes Interview with Kennedy's Physician
(October 30, 2013) Fifty years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the medical and scientific evidence may support the possibility of the "single shooter, three bullet theory" of the event. Yet new insights into the old medical data simultaneously suggest there may have been multiple shooters, according to a special article by Dr. Rod J. Rohrich, Editor-in-Chief of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).
Dr. Rohrich and coauthors revisit the medical data on President Kennedy's shooting and death—an event that continues to generate debate and skepticism to this day. Dr. Rohrich is Professor and Chairman of Plastic Surgery at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
The authors present a narrative of the events from that fateful November day, focusing on the medical steps taken to resuscitate President Kennedy at Parkland Memorial Hospital. The attempt was unsuccessful, and the President was declared dead 17 minutes after arrival at the hospital.
Controversy and conspiracy theories flared up almost immediately—from the debate over performing the autopsy to the conflicting results of government panel reports in subsequent years. Dr. Rohrich and colleagues write, "Much of this controversy was driven by incomplete information, poor documentation and analysis, and the puzzling decision to withhold key medical evidence from both from investigators and the public."
Based on his team's review, Dr. Rohrich says "A lot of the presented historical evidence shows that the single-shooter, three-bullet theory is plausible." However, in the face of divergent and contradicting evidence, the authors do not unequivocally support the single-shooter theory.
The competing evidence includes an exclusive video interview conducted with Dr. Robert McClelland—one of the last surviving members of the team of physicians who worked on President Kennedy at Parkland Memorial Hospital. He believes more than one shooter was involved. "I could actually look down within the skull cavity and see that the whole right back half of [Kennedy's] right cerebral hemisphere was gone," Dr. McClelland told Dr. Rohrich. "Not one shot caused all of these things."
Researchers point to three key areas affecting the multiple theories: size and location of the wounds, trajectory of the bullets and the lack of photographs and X-rays.
While researchers cannot point to one definitive theory, the medical data, and recent interview with Dr. McClelland are revealing. "Unfortunately, the controversy was not diminished by the divergent conclusions of the multiple commissions and panels that convened to investigate it," Dr. Rohrich says.
As a special feature, visitors to the Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery website can view the full interview with Dr. McClelland at PRSJournal.com.
"Well basically," Dr. McClelland answered. "All of us, including
myself, said that the wound involved the occipital parietal area of the
skull. What that means is the back part of the skull, which the back most
extreme bone in the back part of the skull is the occipital bone. That
right side of that because the wound came out of the right side had been
extremely blasted away. In the back part, that is the posterior half of
the parietal bone, which is right next to the occipital bone, which
comprises the back of the head, but is mostly the side of the head, so in
essence, what were saying is that the wound involved the back, the
posterior part of the side of the head. It was probably about, I would
estimate, something like two or three inches in diameter. A very large
wound."
"I then asked Dr. McClleland, "You didn't see an opening in the top
part of his head, did you?" To which he answered, "Well, actually that was
part of the top of his head, the back part of the top of his head, and the
back of his head was blasted out. It was a very large hole. That's what
makes me think it was an exit wound and not an entrance wound. You've
seen the autopsy photographs, I'm sure?"
I said. "Yes, did the wound look like that?" Dr. McClellands answer
surprised me. "It looked pretty much like that, except in one of the
picture they showed."
In the Eye of History
Disclosures in the JFK Assassination Medical Evidence
By William Matson Law
Trine Day, Hardcover, 9781634240468, 528pp.
Publication Date: November 19, 2015
http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781634240468
Excerpts
https://books.google.com/books?id=3YPiCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT53&lpg=PT53&dq=written+reports+by+dr+mcclelland&source=bl&ots=NufdRgZIbf&sig=Y1l3DHCRe9I1ren0SUtViG9ji0Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi0-ImZ_d7PAhVC4SYKHZiZCh8Q6AEILTAD#v=onepage&q=written%20reports%20by%20dr%20mcclelland&f=false
JFK FACTS
What did JFK’s doctors think about his wounds?
http://jfkfacts.org/what-did-dr-mcclelland-think-about-jfks-wounds/
April 23, 2013
The first senior physician to attend President Kennedy after he was fatally wounded in Dallas on November 22, 1963, was Dr. Robert McClelland of Parkland Hospital. By any standard, he is a credible witness.
In Part 1 of this YouTube feature, a 2009 radio interview, Dr. McClelland talks about treating President Kennedy after he had been shot, including his neck wound. McClelland says he could not tell if it was an entrance or an exit wound.
In Part 2, McClelland talks about how the Dallas doctors missed the bullet wound in JFK’s back.
Dr. Robert McCleland, one of the first physicians to work on John F. Kennedy at Parkland Hospital, will be the recipient of the "Profile in Courage" Award from CAPA - Citizens Against Political Assassinations, as a CAPA sponsored all day symposium at the Old Red Court House at Dealey Plaza on Thursday, November 15.
CAPA's "Last Living Witnesses" event may be the last time the still living Parkland doctors and nurses will meet together.
Dr. Bob McClelland in 2013
Dr. McClelland holds the shirt he wore on Nov. 22, 1963, still stained with JFK's blood.
Dr. Bob
McClelland: Surgeon tried to save Kennedy - and Oswald
BY
MARKUS SCHMIDT
Nov 17,
2013
Dr.
Bob McClelland, a Dallas surgeon, had the unusual distinction of trying to save
the life of President John F. Kennedy — and then having to try to save his
alleged assassin less than 48 hours later.
McClelland
was part of the team of surgeons who worked to save Kennedy at Parkland
Hospital, the leading trauma center in Dallas. Then, not even two days later,
he also operated on Lee Harvey Oswald after he was shot in the abdomen by
nightclub owner Jack Ruby.
McClelland
wasn’t able to save either man.
When he
got the alert that the president was on his way to Parkland after being shot,
McClelland at first joked with a colleague, Dr. Chuck Crenshaw.
“On the
way down (to the operating room), we were trying to cheer each other up. We
would often get calls that all kinds of terrible things were being brought in
the emergency room, and it’s really not that bad,” he said.
But when
he first saw Kennedy on a gurney in Trauma Room 1, he knew that this was
serious — and he immediately recognized that though the president was still
breathing, there was no way he would survive.
Because
he was able to have a long and close look at Kennedy’s skull, McClelland, now
84, is possibly the most credible expert who openly questioned the conclusion
by the Warren Commission that Kennedy was shot from the sixth floor of the
Texas School Book Depository by a lone gunman.
“I was
about 18 inches above that wound. I got a better look at it than anybody in that
room. It was way back in the back (of the head), which may lead to the thought
that he was shot not only from the back, but also from the front,” McClelland
said.
“In
other words, there was more than one gunman, and therefore a conspiracy of some
sort. And I looked into that wound for a long time, and there is no doubt what
I saw,” he said.
McClelland
felt his opinion was validated when he watched the famous home movie by Abraham
Zapruder when it first aired on television in 1975.
“The
first bullet hit him in the back, not in the front as we thought at the time,”
he said. “Several seconds later, the second shot hits him and his head
literally explodes, and he was thrown violently backward and to the left as you
would expect someone hit by a high-caliber bullet from the front, not from
above and behind.”
To
McClelland, who has seen a lot of bullet wounds throughout his medical career,
there was never any other interpretation than that the second bullet hit
Kennedy from the front and that the gaping hole he saw on the back of the head
was an exit wound. “It would have had to come in from the picket fence on the
grassy knoll, in my view of it,” he said.
McClelland
believes there were at least two shooters. “Whether there was anything else, I
have no opinion on that,” he said.
When
McClelland saw Kennedy on the operating table, it wasn’t the first time he had
encountered him. In 1963, he saw him from a distance, when Kennedy visited a
U.S. senator who had undergone surgery at Parkland As 50th Anniversary Of Assassination
Approaches, Surgeon Who Treated JFK Remembers
In a
strange twist, McClelland not only did work on Kennedy and Oswald — years
later, he also performed cancer surgery on Zapruder.
By
Chelsea Karnash
PHILADELPHIA
(CBS) – Coincidence. Happenstance. Twist of fate.
Whatever
you choose to call them, there are three happenings – eerie, extraordinary and
seemingly random at the time – that have irrevocably shaped the life of Dr.
Robert McClelland.
And when
strung together, they comprise a story that, fifty years and countless
interviews later, the 84-year-old surgeon can recite “in his sleep.”
Dr.
Robert McClelland speaks about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy,
fifty years later. (credit: CBS3)
The
first, October of 1961. Dr. McClelland was then a 31-year-old surgeon. His
wife, a nurse at Baylor University Hospital, forgot to pick up her paycheck, so
she tasked her husband with swinging by the hospital to retrieve it.
Coincidentally,
the Speaker of the House, Sam Rayburn, was also hospitalized at Baylor that
day, dying of pancreatic cancer, and unbeknownst to McClelland, President John
F. Kennedy was in town to say his goodbyes to his quickly-fading colleague.
As Dr.
McClelland walked into the hospital, he recalls seeing a number of cars and
motorcycles pulling up. It ended up being the President’s motorcade.
Just as
McClelland neared the door, President Kennedy stepped out of his limo. The two
men were “about a foot away” from one another.
They
didn’t speak to one another. And while the chance encounter was exciting for
Dr. McClelland at the time, like so many things in life, it didn’t take on any
real significance until later.
Flash
forward two years. On Nov. 22, 1963, Dr. McClelland, a then 34-year-old
assistant professor of surgery at Parkland Hospital, was showing his students a
surgical video when there was a knock on the door.
“President
Kennedy has been shot in his motorcade!”
Those
words would change his life – and history – forever. They’d also transform that
chance encounter with President Kennedy two years ago into something notable.
On the
elevator ride down to the OR, Dr. McClelland and his colleague, Dr. William
Clark, hoped for the best, reflecting on other times when so-called ‘serious’
emergencies had been nothing more than minor injuries.
But as
the doors to the operating area opened up, it was clear that this was
different.
“The
operating room was jam-packed, shoulder-to-shoulder with men in business
suits,” Dr. McClelland, a soft-spoken man with a Southern drawl, recalls.
The
crowd parted, and he saw Jackie Kennedy – “Mrs. Kennedy,” as he calls her –
sitting in a folding chair.
“I stood
there kind of dumbfounded for a moment,” Dr. McClelland remembers. Then his
surgical training kicked in.
“You
don’t think,” he says, “you just move.”
“The
first thing I saw was the horrific sight of the President.” But, the doctor
admits, it was a moment when he was “glad to see I was not alone.”
Two
other doctors were already treating Kennedy, Dr. Perry and Dr. Jenkins, and they
ordered Dr. McClelland to hold the patient’s head.
So, he stood, holding the bleeding, injured head of the President of the United States. The wound was huge, gaping.
“My
first reaction was, ‘My God, have you seen the back of the President’s head?’”
McClelland says. They hadn’t.
Even
with modern technology, McClelland says President Kennedy’s wounds were fatal –
he “couldn’t be saved, even today,” he emphasizes.
And five minutes later, the mortally wounded Kennedy went into cardiac arrest.
“Dr.
Clark said to me, ‘Mac, you can stop now.’”
Time of
death: Approximately 1 p.m. The most powerful man in the world had just died
with his head in a 30-something-year-old Texas doctor’s hands.
The room
emptied of most of the surgical staff, Secret Service and media. A priest came
in – there were supposedly two, Dr. McClelland says, but he only saw one. Last
rites were administered – “All I heard was, ‘If thou livest,’ and then I
couldn’t hear any more” – and then Jackie Kennedy came into the room.
“She
took a ring from her finger and exchanged it with a ring on [JFK’s],” Dr.
McClelland explained. Then she kissed her husband’s bare right foot and walked
out of the room.
Two days
later, Dr. McClelland would find himself back in the OR, operating on the very
man who’d supposedly shot and killed the President of the United States, Lee
Harvey Oswald, after he was shot by Dallas nightclub owner John Ruby.
“[Oswald’s]
injuries were very grave, but we were making good progress,” Dr. McClelland
recalls, sounding like the surgeon he is.
But
Oswald eventually went into cardiac arrest. Despite Dr. McClelland and a fellow
doctor “massaging his heart” for “20 to 25 minutes” in an effort to revive him,
JFK’s assassin flat-lined.
And with
him went the information that could have solved a mystery that continues, fifty
years later, to baffle the American public, spawning conspiracy theories
ranging from the plausible to the absurd.
—
In
hindsight, Dr. McClelland says that he always believed the wound at the back of
President Kennedy’s head was the exit wound. But it wasn’t until years later,
when he saw the famous Abraham Zapruder video on television, that the doctor
became convinced of it.
“That
firmed up my thought that it was the exit wound,” he says, pointing to the
backwards motion of the President’s body after he was shot, as well as the size
of the hole in the back of JFK’s skull, as proof he was shot from the front.
He also
says that in the heat of the moment, some of Kennedy’s wounds weren’t visible
to everyone working on him, which may explain the conflicting testimony from
medical staff following the assassination.
And like
many, Dr. McClelland has struggled to fill in the blanks about the details of
the assassination himself. He frequently references one book “of the 32,000 out
there” on the event – JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It
Matters, by James W. Douglass, which argues that military and intelligence
agencies in the U.S. are responsible for President Kennedy’s assassination and
the subsequent cover-up. According to Douglass, those organizations were upset
by JFK’s evolving stance on the Cold War and, desperate to win, they plotted
Kennedy’s death because he was “getting in the way” of their plans for a
nuclear strike.
For
McClelland, that book seems to offer answers to the questions he’s been
grappling with over the last fifty years – in particular, why his colleague,
Dr. Perry, who also treated the President that day, would never speak of the
assassination (“If you ever even mentioned the assassination [to Dr. Perry], he
would cloud up and say, ‘I don’t talk about that,’ period.”) If you take
Douglass at his word, a Secret Service agent approached Perry shortly after
he’d given a description of JFK’s wounds to the media – when he’d pointed to
his neck and seemed to imply that the entrance wound was there. That agent
supposedly threatened Perry, ordering him never to talk about the assassination
again…”or else,” Dr. McClelland emphasizes.
But
while McClelland believes the assassination was a conspiracy, he is also quick
to separate himself from the “nuts” and those with what he calls the truly
“off-the-wall” theories. He mentions one group that asked him to have his
bloody shirt from the day of the assassination tested for DNA in order to prove
it wasn’t the President who was shot, but a “ringer.”
“I
didn’t even respond to them after that,” McClelland chuckles.
He is,
however, sure of some things: There were at least two shooters (“absolutely”)
and the assassination was likely a conspiracy involving government “elements.”
McClelland
is not alone in his beliefs. A recent Gallup poll showed 61% of Americans
still believe others besides Lee Harvey Oswald were involved in JFK’s
assassination – whether it’s the CIA, Fidel Castro and the Cubans or organized
crime groups such as the mafia. Most don’t believe a lone shooter could have
inflicted wounds consistent with those that killed the President. And a House committee even
corroborated those views in a 1979 investigation, officially concluding it was
“highly probable” that Kennedy was killed by at least two shooters, most likely
“as a result of a conspiracy.”
But
despite the release of thousands of documents in the 1990s related to the
assassination, many remain classified, not to be unsealed for years – if ever.
“Now why
do you think that is?” Dr. McClelland asks wryly.
As the
fiftieth anniversary of the assassination nears, Dr. McClelland, like anyone
who hears his story, can’t help but look at the connections between his three
chance encounters with JFK and then Oswald and marvel.
“My
sense of the absurd is inexpressible,” the current professor emeritus at the
University of Texas Southwestern, who has family in the Delaware Valley,
laughs. Again, “dumbfounded” is the adjective that springs to mind.
Still,
after years of interviews and questioning about the details of JFK’s
assassination and its intersections — plural — with his otherwise relatively
ordinary life, Dr. Robert McClelland remains willing to tell the same story
he’s told “8,000 times.”
“This
isn’t mine,” he says placidly. “It belongs to the nation.”
What we
know of it, that is. Because despite the extraordinary coincidences of Dr.
McClelland’s life, despite holding the head of one of the most beloved United
State’s Presidents in history in his hands, the man who witnessed the 35th
President’s last breath remains largely in the dark, just as mystified as the
rest of us.
Dr. McClelland is a 1954 graduate of The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Following his internship at the University of Kansas Medical Center and two years of military service in the Air Force in Germany, he completed his residency in general surgery at Parkland Memorial Hospital. He then completed a one-year fellowship in splanchnic hemodynamics with Dr. Fouad Bashour, in the Department of Internal Medicine, at UT Southwestern. He was appointed to the faculty of UT Southwestern Medical Center in 1962 and is the first faculty member to hold the Alvin Baldwin Jr. Chair in Surgery, an endowment designated for support of surgical education. His primary interests lie in gastrointestinal surgery and in postgraduate medical education. As originator and editor of Audio-Journal Review ¿ General Surgery and Selected Readings in General Surgery, his influence as a medical educator extends beyond the department into surgical training programs throughout the country.
The
Headwound As Seen At Parkland Hospital
http://www.paulseaton.com/jfk/boh/parkland_boh/parkland_wound.htm
http://www.paulseaton.com/jfk/boh/parkland_boh/piks/mcclelland_shows_wound.jpg
http://www.paulseaton.com/jfk/boh/parkland_boh/piks/mcclelland_wound.jpg
ROBERT McCLELLAND, MD: "...I could very closely examine the head wound,
and I noted that the right posterior portion of the skull had been
extremely blasted. It had been shattered...so that the parietal bone was
protruded up through the scalp and seemed to be fractured almost along its
right posterior half, as well as some of the occipital bone being
fractured in its lateral half, and this sprung open the bones that I
mentioned in such a way that you could actually look down into the skull
cavity itself and see that probably a third or so, at least, of the brain
tissue, posterior cerebral tissue and some of the cerebellar tissue had
been blasted out...." (WC--V6:33)
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Dr. Bob McClelland: Surgeon tried to save Kennedy - and Oswald
http://www.richmond.com/news/special-report/jfk/people/article_c0fba04b-097b-51d1-901a-f73204d8e4fb.html
http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/richmond.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/7/34/7343fa2e-4bef-11e3-a2f1-0019bb30f31a/5282b51b6edd6.image.jpg?resize=760%2C688
Dr. Robert N. McClelland poses in his hospital office in Dallas, TX on
October 31, 2013. McClelland was one of the surgeons attending to a
mortally wounded John F. Kennedy at Parkland hospital on November 22,
1963. He holds the shirt, stained with Kennedy's blood, that he wore that
day.
Blood-stained shirt
http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/richmond.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/2/72/2721b06e-4bef-11e3-b1d1-0019bb30f31a/5282b49bb335e.image.jpg?resize=760%2C506
The hand of Dr. Robert McClelland rests across the blood-stained shirt he
wore in Trauma Room 1 at Parkland Hospital on Novemeber 22, 1963, as one
of the surgeons attending to President Kennedy. Photographed in his office
on October 31, 2013.
Posted: Sunday, November 17, 2013 12:00 am
BY MARKUS SCHMIDT
Dr. Bob McClelland, a Dallas surgeon, had the unusual distinction of
trying to save the life of President John F. Kennedy — and then
having to try to save his alleged assassin less than 48 hours later.
McClelland was part of the team of surgeons who worked to save Kennedy at
Parkland Hospital, the leading trauma center in Dallas. Then, not even two
days later, he also operated on Lee Harvey Oswald after he was shot in the
abdomen by nightclub owner Jack Ruby.
McClelland wasn’t able to save either man.
When he got the alert that the president was on his way to Parkland after
being shot, McClelland at first joked with a colleague, Dr. Chuck
Crenshaw.
“On the way down (to the operating room), we were trying to cheer each other up. We would often get calls that all kinds of terrible things were being brought in the emergency room, and it’s really not that bad,” he said.
But when he first saw Kennedy on a gurney in Trauma Room 1, he knew that this was serious — and he immediately recognized that though the president was still breathing, there was no way he would survive.
Because he was able to have a long and close look at Kennedy’s skull, McClelland, now 84, is possibly the most credible expert who openly questioned the conclusion by the Warren Commission that Kennedy was shot from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository by a lone gunman.
http://www.paulseaton.com/jfk/boh/parkland_boh/parkland_wound.htm
http://www.paulseaton.com/jfk/boh/parkland_boh/piks/mcclelland_shows_wound.jpg
http://www.paulseaton.com/jfk/boh/parkland_boh/piks/mcclelland_wound.jpg
ROBERT McCLELLAND, MD: "...I could very closely examine the head wound,
and I noted that the right posterior portion of the skull had been
extremely blasted. It had been shattered...so that the parietal bone was
protruded up through the scalp and seemed to be fractured almost along its
right posterior half, as well as some of the occipital bone being
fractured in its lateral half, and this sprung open the bones that I
mentioned in such a way that you could actually look down into the skull
cavity itself and see that probably a third or so, at least, of the brain
tissue, posterior cerebral tissue and some of the cerebellar tissue had
been blasted out...." (WC--V6:33)
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Dr. Bob McClelland: Surgeon tried to save Kennedy - and Oswald
http://www.richmond.com/news/special-report/jfk/people/article_c0fba04b-097b-51d1-901a-f73204d8e4fb.html
http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/richmond.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/7/34/7343fa2e-4bef-11e3-a2f1-0019bb30f31a/5282b51b6edd6.image.jpg?resize=760%2C688
Dr. Robert N. McClelland poses in his hospital office in Dallas, TX on
October 31, 2013. McClelland was one of the surgeons attending to a
mortally wounded John F. Kennedy at Parkland hospital on November 22,
1963. He holds the shirt, stained with Kennedy's blood, that he wore that
day.
Blood-stained shirt
http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/richmond.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/2/72/2721b06e-4bef-11e3-b1d1-0019bb30f31a/5282b49bb335e.image.jpg?resize=760%2C506
The hand of Dr. Robert McClelland rests across the blood-stained shirt he
wore in Trauma Room 1 at Parkland Hospital on Novemeber 22, 1963, as one
of the surgeons attending to President Kennedy. Photographed in his office
on October 31, 2013.
Posted: Sunday, November 17, 2013 12:00 am
BY MARKUS SCHMIDT
Dr. Bob McClelland, a Dallas surgeon, had the unusual distinction of
trying to save the life of President John F. Kennedy — and then
having to try to save his alleged assassin less than 48 hours later.
McClelland was part of the team of surgeons who worked to save Kennedy at
Parkland Hospital, the leading trauma center in Dallas. Then, not even two
days later, he also operated on Lee Harvey Oswald after he was shot in the
abdomen by nightclub owner Jack Ruby.
McClelland wasn’t able to save either man.
When he got the alert that the president was on his way to Parkland after
being shot, McClelland at first joked with a colleague, Dr. Chuck
Crenshaw.
“On the way down (to the operating room), we were trying to cheer each other up. We would often get calls that all kinds of terrible things were being brought in the emergency room, and it’s really not that bad,” he said.
But when he first saw Kennedy on a gurney in Trauma Room 1, he knew that this was serious — and he immediately recognized that though the president was still breathing, there was no way he would survive.
Because he was able to have a long and close look at Kennedy’s skull, McClelland, now 84, is possibly the most credible expert who openly questioned the conclusion by the Warren Commission that Kennedy was shot from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository by a lone gunman.
“I was about 18 inches above that wound. I got a better look at it than anybody in that room. It was way back in the back (of the head), which may lead to the thought that he was shot not only from the back, but also from the front,” McClelland said.
“In other words, there was more than one gunman, and therefore a conspiracy of some sort. And I looked into that wound for a long time, and there is no doubt what I saw,” he said.
McClelland felt his opinion was validated when he watched the famous home movie by Abraham Zapruder when it first aired on television in 1975.
“The first bullet hit him in the back, not in the front as we thought at the time,” he said. “Several seconds later, the second shot hits him and his head literally explodes, and he was thrown violently backward and to the left as you would expect someone hit by a high-caliber bullet from the front, not from above and behind.”
To McClelland, who has seen a lot of bullet wounds throughout his medical career, there was never any other interpretation than that the second bullet hit Kennedy from the front and that the gaping hole he saw on the back of the head was an exit wound. “It would have had to come in from the picket fence on the grassy knoll, in my view of it,” he said.
McClelland believes there were at least two shooters. “Whether there was anything else, I have no opinion on that,” he said.
When McClelland saw Kennedy on the operating table, it wasn’t the first time he had encountered him. In 1963, he saw him from a distance, when Kennedy visited a U.S. senator who had undergone surgery at Parkland.
In a strange twist, McClelland not only did work on Kennedy and Oswald — years later, he also performed cancer surgery on Zapruder.
THE EARLIEST REPORTS
(THE MEDICAL EVIDENCE)
EXCERPTED FROM "JFK: The Medical Evidence Reference" (339 pages)]
By Vincent M. Palamara
3) Dr. Robert Nelson McClelland, Attending Surgeon:
a) WR 526-527 / 17 H 11-12 / CE 392: report written 11/22/63---" a
massive gunshot wound of the head with a fragment wound of the
trachea The cause of death was due to massive head and brain injury from
a gunshot wound of the left temple.";
b) "St. Louis Post-Dispatch", 12/1/63---"This [the neck wound] did
appear to be an entrance wound."
c)e) 6 H 33-34, 35, 37 / testimony---" I could very closely examine the
head
wound, and I noted that the right posterior portion of the skull had
been
extremely blasted probably a third or so, at least, of the brain
tissue,
posterior cerebral tissue and some of the cerebellar tissue had
been
blasted out "; " there was definitely a piece of cerebellum that
extruded from the wound "; " the loss of cerebral and cerebellar tissues
were so great massive head injuries with loss of large amounts of cerebral
and cerebellar tissues "; "The initial impression that we had was that
perhaps the wound in the neck, the anterior part of the neck, was an
entrance wound and that it had perhaps taken a trajectory off the anterior
vertebral body and again into the skull itself, exiting out the back, to
produce the massive injury in the head.";
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/palamara/excerpt_book2.html
extruded from the wound "; " the loss of cerebral and cerebellar tissues
were so great massive head injuries with loss of large amounts of cerebral
and cerebellar tissues "; "The initial impression that we had was that
perhaps the wound in the neck, the anterior part of the neck, was an
entrance wound and that it had perhaps taken a trajectory off the anterior
vertebral body and again into the skull itself, exiting out the back, to
produce the massive injury in the head.";
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/palamara/excerpt_book2.html
THREE PATIENTS at PARKLAND
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.
http://www.jfklancer.com/3Patients.html
As 50th
Anniversary Of Assassination Approaches, Surgeon Who ...
As 50th Anniversary Of Assassination Approaches, Surgeon Who Treated JFK Remembers
November 19, 2013 4:03 PM
Treatment of President Kennedy
The first physician to see the President at Parkland Hospital was Dr.
Charles J. Carrico, a resident in general surgery.192 Dr. Carrico was in
the emergency area, examining another patient, when he was notified that
President Kennedy was en route to the hospital. 193 Approximately 2
minutes later, Dr. Carrico saw the President on his back, being wheeled
into the emergency area.194 He noted that the President was blue-white or
ashen in color; had slow, spasmodic, agonal respiration without any
coordination; made no voluntary movements; had his eyes open with the
pupils dilated without any reaction to light; evidenced no palpable pulse; and had a few chest sounds which
were thought to be heart beats.195 On the basis of these findings, Dr.
Carrico concluded that President Kennedy was still alive.196
Dr. Carrico noted two wounds: a small bullet wound in the front lower
neck, and an extensive wound in the President's head where a sizable
portion of the skull was missing.197 He observed shredded brain tissue and
"considerable slow oozing" from the latter wound, followed by "more
profuse bleeding" after some circulation was established.198 Dr. Carrico
felt the President's back and determined that there was no large wound
there which would be an immediate threat to life.199 Observing the serious
problems presented by the head wound and inadequate respiration, Dr.
Carrico directed his attention to improving the President's breathing.200
He noted contusions, hematoma to the right of the larynx, which was
deviated slightly to the left, and also ragged tissue which indicated a
tracheal injury.201 Dr. Carrico inserted a cuffed endotracheal tube past
the injury, inflated the cuff, and connected it to a Bennett machine to
assist in respiration.202
At that point, direction of the President's treatment was undertaken by
Dr. Malcolm O. Perry, who arrived at trauma room 1 a few moments after the
President.203 Dr. Perry noted the President's back brace as he felt for a
femoral pulse, which he did not find.0204 Observing that an effective
airway had to be established if treatment was to be effective, Dr. Perry
performed a tracheotomy, which required 3 to 5 minutes.205 While Dr. Perry
was performing the tracheotomy, Drs. Carrico and Ronald Jones made
cutdowns on the President's right leg and left arm, respectively, to
infuse blood and fluids into the circulatory system.206 Dr. Carrico
treated the President's known ad-renal insufficiency by administering
hydrocortisone.207 Dr. Robert N. McClelland entered at that point and
assisted Dr. Perry with the tracheotomy.208
Dr. Fouad Bashour, chief of cardiology, Dr. M. T. Jenkins, chief of
anesthesiology, and Dr. A. H. Giesecke, Jr., then joined in the effort to
revive the President.0209 When Dr. Perry noted free air and blood in the
President's chest cavity, he asked that chest tubes be inserted to allow
for drainage of blood and air. Drs. Paul C. Peters and Charles R. Baxter
initiated these procedures.210 As a result of the infusion of liquids
through the cutdowns, the cardiac massage, and the airway, the doctors
were able to maintain peripheral circulation as monitored at the neck
(carotid) artery and at the wrist (radial) pulse. A femoral pulse was also
detected in the President's leg.211 While these medical efforts were in
progress, Dr. Clark noted some electrical activity on the cardiotachyscope
attached to monitor the President's heart responses.212 Dr. Clark, who
most closely observed the head wound, described a large, gaping wound in
the right rear part of the head, with substantial damage and exposure of
brain tissue, and a considerable loss of blood.213 Dr. Clark did not see
any other hole or wound on the President's head. According to Dr.
Clark,
the small bullet hole on the right rear. of the President's head discovered during the subsequent autopsy "could have easily been hidden in the blood and hair"
In the absence of any neurological, muscular, or heart response, the doctors concluded that efforts to revive the President were hopeless.215 This was verified by Admiral Burkley, the President's physician, who arrived at the hospital after emergency treatment was underway and concluded that "my direct services to him at that moment would have interfered with the action of the team which was in progress." 216 At approximately 1 p.m., after last rites were administered to the President by Father Oscar L. Huber, Dr. Clark pronounced the President dead. He made the official determination because the ultimate cause of death, the severe head injury, was within his sphere of specialization.217 The time was fixed at 1 p.m., as an approximation, since it was impossible to determine the precise moment when life left the President.218 President Kennedy could have survived the neck injury, but the head wound was fatal.219 From a medical viewpoint, President Kennedy was alive when he arrived at Parkland Hospital; the doctors observed that he had a heart beat and was making some respiratory efforts.220 But his condition was hopeless, and the extraordinary efforts of the doctors to save him could not help but to have been unavailing.
Since the Dallas doctors directed all their efforts to controlling the massive bleeding caused by the head wound, and to reconstructing an airway to his lungs, the President remained on his back throughout his medical treatment at Parkland.221 When asked why he did not turn the President over, Dr. Carrico testified as follows:
A. This man was in obvious extreme distress and any more thorough inspection would have involved several minutes--well, several--considerable time which at this juncture was not available. A thorough inspection would have involved washing and cleansing the back, and this is not practical in treating an acutely injured patient. You have to determine which things, which are immediately life threatening and cope with them, before attempting to evaluate the full extent of the injuries.
Q. Did you ever have occasion to look at the President's back A. No, sir. Before--well, in trying to treat an acutely injured patient, you have to establish an airway, adequate ventilation and you have to establish adequate circulation. Before this was accomplished the President's cardiac activity had ceased and closed cardiac massage was instituted, which made it impossible to inspect his back.
Q. Was any effort made to inspect the President's back after he had expired?
A. No, sir.
Q. And why was no effort made at that time to inspect his back?
A. I suppose nobody really had the heart to do it.
Moreover, the Parkland doctors took no further action after the President had expired because they concluded that it was beyond the scope of their permissible duties.
https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/chapter-2.html
JFKcountercoup:
Thursday - Dr. McClelland's Report from Trauma ...
http://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2013/10/dr-mcclellands-report-from-trauma-room.html
Friday, October 18, 2013
Thursday - Dr. McClelland's Report from Trauma Room One
Report from the Wecht conference - Thursday, October 17
After Dr. Wecht gave his spiel, in typically fine form and with good
humor, we heard from Larry J. Sabato, the University of Virginia professor
whose new book on JFK created some news with a new analysis of the
acoustical evidence of a shot from the Knoll.
Then Josiah Thompson and Keith Fitzgerald gave their intense and detailed
report entitled: Last Second in Dallas: A Micro-Study of the
Assassination, in which Thompson shows how flawed the tests were that
tried to prove the "Jet Effect" in which an object shot with a high
powered rifle will move in the direction the shot originated, thus
explaining the backwards movement of JFK's head when shot from above and
behind.
Thompson went into the details of the original reports and photos of the
experiments by Dr. Alveraz, and discovered that of the half dozen objects
shot multiple times from different distances, only a mellen did what Dr.
Alveraz said - fell backwards and every single other test object went
forward, although Dr. Alveraz didn't bother to report on all of the
failures before he obtained the one example he needed to prove his
"effect."
Then Thompson and Fitzgerald went into their most recent analysis that led
them to a new theory, that JFK was hit twice in the head, once AFTER the Z
- frame that shows the head exploding.
Robert Groden, whose new book "Absolute Proof" will be published and
released next week, and include a lot of new photographs and material,
gave a good presentation on the areas he has been working on.
At the same time Groden was giving his slide show presentation, Timmothy
A. Nicholson gave a concurrent report on "An Acoustic Analysis of Witness
Reports in the JFK Assassination (A Gunman Near JFK?), which I missed but
look forward to reviewing on video when they are available.
In the afternoon, Dr. Don Thomas gave his presentation on "Double Talk:
Synchronization of the Acoustical Evidence and the JFK Assassination," and
in conversation with Dr. Thomas over lunch, he said that he had obtained
the Sabato review but had yet to read it, but promised to do so and report
back on what he thinks of it.
Jeffrey Sundberg also gave a talk on "Imaging Properties of the Bell &
Howell 414PD Camera and Implications for Authenticity of the Zapruder
Film. Given Dr. Wecht's take on the Zapruder film alteration, it was
surprising that this was even made part of the program, but it certainly
is worthy of discussion, and while I don't yet understand the
implications, I am going to look into this further.
While Dr. David W. Mantik, M.D., Ph.D. and Ed Forum member Patrick J.
Speer gave their talk on "The Harper Fragment Redux: A Panel Discussion,"
Dr. Cyril Wecht made his presentation on "The President's Autopsy: A
Forensic Pathological and Medical-Legal Critique."
Since he has been doing this for so long, Dr. Wecht could give this
lecture in his sleep, but with typical humor laced descriptions of the
autopsy, and all of its problems and mistakes, Wecht concluded that "if
the autopsy doctors were Asians, they would have committed suicide, if
they were Europeans they would have resigned, but since they were
Americans, they bullshit their way out of it."
To end the program for the day, Dr. Robert McClelland gave a very detailed
and fascinating account of his time in the Parkland's Trauma Room One via
teleconference from Dallas.
Dr. McClelland said that he was on one of six surgeons at Parkland at the
time (now there are over 60), and when asked to report to the emergency
room, he was directed by the head nurse there to Trauma Room One, where
there was already two surgeons working on the President, concentrating on
the throat wound.
He went to the end of the gurney and stood by the President's head, and noticed the gaping hole in the back of the head and the fact that some of the President's brain was hanging, out and when he called this to the attention of the other two doctors who said they hadn't looked closely at the head wound. At that point, part of the brain fell off the gurney.
After working on the throat wound for a few minutes, the doctors noticed that JFK's heart, that was still beating, was slowing down and then stopped, and he was declared dead.
Dr. McClelland remained in the room, pinned against the wall by the gurney, as Father Huber performed the last rites, and he saw Mrs. Kennedy flinch when he gave a "conditional" absolution to the dead President.
He then watched Mrs. Kennedy exchange rings with JFK, and the battle between Dallas medical examiner and the Secret Service agents, one of whom had a Thompson submachine gun.
Years, later, McClelland said after watching the Zapruder film, he is convinced that the gaping hole in the back of JFK's head was caused by a bullet shot from the front from a gunman on the grassy knoll.
Someone in the audience stated that McClelland "arrived late" and didn't stay long and wasn't concentrating enough to notice the gaping hole in the back of JFK's head, to which McClelland replied that he arrived shortly after the two other doctors began to work on the first physical wound they noticed, the throat wound, and that by taking a position at the end of the gurney, he had very clear view of the head wound, for about eight minutes, and he was concentrating on what he was doing more than anything he had concentrated on before in his life.
Also see: Pittsburgh Post-Gazzette article on Page 7 of the Saturday, October 18th edition.
Surgeon in ER insists 2 gunmen shot JFK
Doctor first to see Kennedy's wound
October 18, 2013 4:00 AM
By Michael A. Fuoco Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A surgeon who half a century ago was among the doctors who tried to save President John F. Kennedy's life said Thursday that the Warren Commission got it wrong in determining a lone gunman assassinated JFK in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.
Speaking via teleconference to a Duquesne University symposium marking the 50th anniversary of the assassination, Robert N. McClelland said he was the first doctor in Parkland Hospital's Trauma Room One to notice the massive wound in the back of Kennedy's skull and that a trauma of that size had to be an exit wound.
"The whole right side of his skull was gone. I could look inside his skull cavity. Obviously, it was a mortal wound," he told a spellbound audience of legal, medical, forensic and investigative experts and the public who packed the university's Power Ballroom.
Dr. McClelland, now 83 and professor emeritus at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, said that because it was an exit wound, it logically followed that it had been fired from in front of the president's limousine. And, in turn, that meant a second gunman was involved in the assassination, contradicting the Warren Commission's finding that there was but one assassin.
The Warren Commission determined that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone when he fired three times with a high-powered rifle on the president's motorcade in Dealey Plaza from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. The commission said that one bullet missed, another went through the president's neck and also wounded Texas Gov. John Connolly -- the so-called "single bullet theory" -- and the third caused the fatal head wound.
But Dr. McClelland was resolute. "Having seen what I saw" in the emergency room and then viewing the Zapruder film of the assassination, he said, he believes JFK "was initially hit from a bullet fired from the sixth floor that went through his back and out through his neck. The next injury was caused by somebody behind the picket fence on the grassy knoll firing a shot that blew out the right side of his head."
Speaking on the first day of the three-day symposium sponsored by the university's Cyril H. Wecht Institute of Forensic Science and Law, Dr. McClelland also recounted how two days after Kennedy's assassination he and other surgeons tried in vain to save Oswald's life after he was shot by Jack Ruby while being transferred from Dallas police headquarters to the county jail.
In his address, Dr. Wecht, the renowned forensic pathologist and longtime critic of the Warren Report, railed against what he called was the "inept, inexplicable, totally incompetent" autopsy performed on the president by Navy pathologists James J. Humes and J. Thornton Boswell. They concluded the president had been struck by two bullets, fired from above and behind, with the fatal shot being the one that struck his head.
"They had never done a single gunshot wound autopsy before. If you heard of this in another country, you'd say condescendingly and dismissively, 'What do you expect from that country?' but this was our country," Dr. Wecht said. "This should bother you so much; this should be so distressing, even 50 years later."
Dr. Wecht, who used a skull and dissected a brain during his address to illustrate his criticism of the autopsy and what wasn't done, said the "cold case" needs to be reopened.
"The Warren Commission Report is scientifically absurd," he said. The burden of the report's detractors is not to have all the answers about the assassination, he said, but to point out defects in the investigation, which they have done. He received a standing ovation.
Among the speakers today will be Academy Award-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone, director of the controversial 1991 film "JFK" and director/narrator of the Showtime docu-series "Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States."
Michael A. Fuoco: mfu...@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1968. First Published October 17, 2013 8:00 PMc
http://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2013/10/dr-mcclellands-report-from-trauma-room.html
Friday, October 18, 2013
Thursday - Dr. McClelland's Report from Trauma Room One
Report from the Wecht conference - Thursday, October 17
After Dr. Wecht gave his spiel, in typically fine form and with good
humor, we heard from Larry J. Sabato, the University of Virginia professor
whose new book on JFK created some news with a new analysis of the
acoustical evidence of a shot from the Knoll.
Then Josiah Thompson and Keith Fitzgerald gave their intense and detailed
report entitled: Last Second in Dallas: A Micro-Study of the
Assassination, in which Thompson shows how flawed the tests were that
tried to prove the "Jet Effect" in which an object shot with a high
powered rifle will move in the direction the shot originated, thus
explaining the backwards movement of JFK's head when shot from above and
behind.
Thompson went into the details of the original reports and photos of the
experiments by Dr. Alveraz, and discovered that of the half dozen objects
shot multiple times from different distances, only a mellen did what Dr.
Alveraz said - fell backwards and every single other test object went
forward, although Dr. Alveraz didn't bother to report on all of the
failures before he obtained the one example he needed to prove his
"effect."
Then Thompson and Fitzgerald went into their most recent analysis that led
them to a new theory, that JFK was hit twice in the head, once AFTER the Z
- frame that shows the head exploding.
Robert Groden, whose new book "Absolute Proof" will be published and
released next week, and include a lot of new photographs and material,
gave a good presentation on the areas he has been working on.
At the same time Groden was giving his slide show presentation, Timmothy
A. Nicholson gave a concurrent report on "An Acoustic Analysis of Witness
Reports in the JFK Assassination (A Gunman Near JFK?), which I missed but
look forward to reviewing on video when they are available.
In the afternoon, Dr. Don Thomas gave his presentation on "Double Talk:
Synchronization of the Acoustical Evidence and the JFK Assassination," and
in conversation with Dr. Thomas over lunch, he said that he had obtained
the Sabato review but had yet to read it, but promised to do so and report
back on what he thinks of it.
Jeffrey Sundberg also gave a talk on "Imaging Properties of the Bell &
Howell 414PD Camera and Implications for Authenticity of the Zapruder
Film. Given Dr. Wecht's take on the Zapruder film alteration, it was
surprising that this was even made part of the program, but it certainly
is worthy of discussion, and while I don't yet understand the
implications, I am going to look into this further.
While Dr. David W. Mantik, M.D., Ph.D. and Ed Forum member Patrick J.
Speer gave their talk on "The Harper Fragment Redux: A Panel Discussion,"
Dr. Cyril Wecht made his presentation on "The President's Autopsy: A
Forensic Pathological and Medical-Legal Critique."
Since he has been doing this for so long, Dr. Wecht could give this
lecture in his sleep, but with typical humor laced descriptions of the
autopsy, and all of its problems and mistakes, Wecht concluded that "if
the autopsy doctors were Asians, they would have committed suicide, if
they were Europeans they would have resigned, but since they were
Americans, they bullshit their way out of it."
To end the program for the day, Dr. Robert McClelland gave a very detailed
and fascinating account of his time in the Parkland's Trauma Room One via
teleconference from Dallas.
Dr. McClelland said that he was on one of six surgeons at Parkland at the
time (now there are over 60), and when asked to report to the emergency
room, he was directed by the head nurse there to Trauma Room One, where
there was already two surgeons working on the President, concentrating on
the throat wound.
He went to the end of the gurney and stood by the President's head, and noticed the gaping hole in the back of the head and the fact that some of the President's brain was hanging, out and when he called this to the attention of the other two doctors who said they hadn't looked closely at the head wound. At that point, part of the brain fell off the gurney.
After working on the throat wound for a few minutes, the doctors noticed that JFK's heart, that was still beating, was slowing down and then stopped, and he was declared dead.
Dr. McClelland remained in the room, pinned against the wall by the gurney, as Father Huber performed the last rites, and he saw Mrs. Kennedy flinch when he gave a "conditional" absolution to the dead President.
He then watched Mrs. Kennedy exchange rings with JFK, and the battle between Dallas medical examiner and the Secret Service agents, one of whom had a Thompson submachine gun.
Years, later, McClelland said after watching the Zapruder film, he is convinced that the gaping hole in the back of JFK's head was caused by a bullet shot from the front from a gunman on the grassy knoll.
Someone in the audience stated that McClelland "arrived late" and didn't stay long and wasn't concentrating enough to notice the gaping hole in the back of JFK's head, to which McClelland replied that he arrived shortly after the two other doctors began to work on the first physical wound they noticed, the throat wound, and that by taking a position at the end of the gurney, he had very clear view of the head wound, for about eight minutes, and he was concentrating on what he was doing more than anything he had concentrated on before in his life.
Also see: Pittsburgh Post-Gazzette article on Page 7 of the Saturday, October 18th edition.
Surgeon in ER insists 2 gunmen shot JFK
Doctor first to see Kennedy's wound
October 18, 2013 4:00 AM
By Michael A. Fuoco Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A surgeon who half a century ago was among the doctors who tried to save President John F. Kennedy's life said Thursday that the Warren Commission got it wrong in determining a lone gunman assassinated JFK in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.
Speaking via teleconference to a Duquesne University symposium marking the 50th anniversary of the assassination, Robert N. McClelland said he was the first doctor in Parkland Hospital's Trauma Room One to notice the massive wound in the back of Kennedy's skull and that a trauma of that size had to be an exit wound.
"The whole right side of his skull was gone. I could look inside his skull cavity. Obviously, it was a mortal wound," he told a spellbound audience of legal, medical, forensic and investigative experts and the public who packed the university's Power Ballroom.
Dr. McClelland, now 83 and professor emeritus at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, said that because it was an exit wound, it logically followed that it had been fired from in front of the president's limousine. And, in turn, that meant a second gunman was involved in the assassination, contradicting the Warren Commission's finding that there was but one assassin.
The Warren Commission determined that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone when he fired three times with a high-powered rifle on the president's motorcade in Dealey Plaza from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. The commission said that one bullet missed, another went through the president's neck and also wounded Texas Gov. John Connolly -- the so-called "single bullet theory" -- and the third caused the fatal head wound.
But Dr. McClelland was resolute. "Having seen what I saw" in the emergency room and then viewing the Zapruder film of the assassination, he said, he believes JFK "was initially hit from a bullet fired from the sixth floor that went through his back and out through his neck. The next injury was caused by somebody behind the picket fence on the grassy knoll firing a shot that blew out the right side of his head."
Speaking on the first day of the three-day symposium sponsored by the university's Cyril H. Wecht Institute of Forensic Science and Law, Dr. McClelland also recounted how two days after Kennedy's assassination he and other surgeons tried in vain to save Oswald's life after he was shot by Jack Ruby while being transferred from Dallas police headquarters to the county jail.
In his address, Dr. Wecht, the renowned forensic pathologist and longtime critic of the Warren Report, railed against what he called was the "inept, inexplicable, totally incompetent" autopsy performed on the president by Navy pathologists James J. Humes and J. Thornton Boswell. They concluded the president had been struck by two bullets, fired from above and behind, with the fatal shot being the one that struck his head.
"They had never done a single gunshot wound autopsy before. If you heard of this in another country, you'd say condescendingly and dismissively, 'What do you expect from that country?' but this was our country," Dr. Wecht said. "This should bother you so much; this should be so distressing, even 50 years later."
Dr. Wecht, who used a skull and dissected a brain during his address to illustrate his criticism of the autopsy and what wasn't done, said the "cold case" needs to be reopened.
"The Warren Commission Report is scientifically absurd," he said. The burden of the report's detractors is not to have all the answers about the assassination, he said, but to point out defects in the investigation, which they have done. He received a standing ovation.
Among the speakers today will be Academy Award-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone, director of the controversial 1991 film "JFK" and director/narrator of the Showtime docu-series "Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States."
Michael A. Fuoco: mfu...@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1968. First Published October 17, 2013 8:00 PMc
JFK
FACTS
What did JFK’s doctors think about his wounds?
http://jfkfacts.org/what-did-dr-mcclelland-think-about-jfks-wounds/
April 23, 2013
The first senior physician to attend President Kennedy after he was fatally wounded in Dallas on November 22, 1963, was Dr. Robert McClelland of Parkland Hospital. By any standard, he is a credible witness.
In Part 1 of this YouTube feature, a 2009 radio interview, Dr. McClelland talks about treating President Kennedy after he had been shot, including his neck wound. McClelland says he could not tell if it was an entrance or an exit wound.
In Part 2, McClelland talks about how the Dallas doctors missed the bullet wound in JFK’s back.
In Part 3, Dr. McClelland talks about his thinking regarding the causes of the assassination. “I’m reasonably comfortable in my own mind that there was a conspiracy,” he says.
Politically, McClelland describes himself as a “middle of the roader.”
After the Dallas doctors declared Kennedy dead, his body was taken to Washington where doctors at Bethesda Naval Hospital conducted an autopsy and took photos of the president’s body.
McClelland recounts when he was shown the JFK autopsy photos in 1988. He agreed the photos showed the president’s wounds as he saw them on November 22, 1963. The only exception, said Dr. McClelland, was the photo that showed the right rear JFK’s head. He said that a flap of scalp had been pulled over Kennedy’s fatal wound changing the appearance of the wound.
“That’s where there was a massive hole in the back of his head,” McClelland said. “I looked at that hole from 18 inches for about 12 minutes.”
What did JFK’s doctors think about his wounds?
http://jfkfacts.org/what-did-dr-mcclelland-think-about-jfks-wounds/
April 23, 2013
The first senior physician to attend President Kennedy after he was fatally wounded in Dallas on November 22, 1963, was Dr. Robert McClelland of Parkland Hospital. By any standard, he is a credible witness.
In Part 1 of this YouTube feature, a 2009 radio interview, Dr. McClelland talks about treating President Kennedy after he had been shot, including his neck wound. McClelland says he could not tell if it was an entrance or an exit wound.
In Part 2, McClelland talks about how the Dallas doctors missed the bullet wound in JFK’s back.
In Part 3, Dr. McClelland talks about his thinking regarding the causes of the assassination. “I’m reasonably comfortable in my own mind that there was a conspiracy,” he says.
Politically, McClelland describes himself as a “middle of the roader.”
After the Dallas doctors declared Kennedy dead, his body was taken to Washington where doctors at Bethesda Naval Hospital conducted an autopsy and took photos of the president’s body.
McClelland recounts when he was shown the JFK autopsy photos in 1988. He agreed the photos showed the president’s wounds as he saw them on November 22, 1963. The only exception, said Dr. McClelland, was the photo that showed the right rear JFK’s head. He said that a flap of scalp had been pulled over Kennedy’s fatal wound changing the appearance of the wound.
“That’s where there was a massive hole in the back of his head,” McClelland said. “I looked at that hole from 18 inches for about 12 minutes.”
Surgeon in ER insists 2 gunmen shot JFK
Doctor first to see Kennedy's wound
October 18, 2013
By
Michael A. Fuoco / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A
surgeon who half a century ago was among the doctors who tried to save
President John F. Kennedy's life said Thursday that the Warren Commission got it
wrong in determining a lone gunman assassinated JFK in Dallas on Nov. 22,
1963.
Speaking via teleconference to a Duquesne University symposium marking the 50th anniversary of the assassination, Robert N. McClelland said he was the first doctor in Parkland Hospital's Trauma Room One to notice the massive wound in the back of Kennedy's skull and that a trauma of that size had to be an exit wound.
"The whole right side of his skull was gone. I could look inside his skull cavity. Obviously, it was a mortal wound," he told a spellbound audience of legal, medical, forensic and investigative experts and the public who packed the university's Power Ballroom.
Dr. McClelland, now 83 and professor emeritus at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, said that because it was an exit wound, it logically followed that it had been fired from in front of the president's limousine. And, in turn, that meant a second gunman was involved in the assassination, contradicting the Warren Commission's finding that there was but one assassin.
The Warren Commission determined that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone when he fired three times with a high-powered rifle on the president's motorcade in Dealey Plaza from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. The commission said that one bullet missed, another went through the president's neck and also wounded Texas Gov. John Connolly -- the so-called "single bullet theory" -- and the third caused the fatal head wound.
But Dr. McClelland was resolute. "Having seen what I saw" in the emergency room and then viewing the Zapruder film of the assassination, he said, he believes JFK "was initially hit from a bullet fired from the sixth floor that went through his back and out through his neck. The next injury was caused by somebody behind the picket fence on the grassy knoll firing a shot that blew out the right side of his head."
Speaking on the first day of the three-day symposium sponsored by the university's Cyril H. Wecht Institute of Forensic Science and Law, Dr. McClelland also recounted how two days after Kennedy's assassination he and other surgeons tried in vain to save Oswald's life after he was shot by Jack Rubywhile being transferred from Dallas police headquarters to the county jail.
In his address, Dr. Wecht, the renowned forensic pathologist and longtime critic of the Warren Report, railed against what he called was the "inept, inexplicable, totally incompetent" autopsy performed on the president by Navy pathologists James J. Humes and J. Thornton Boswell. They concluded the president had been struck by two bullets, fired from above and behind, with the fatal shot being the one that struck his head.
"They had never done a single gunshot wound autopsy before. If you heard of this in another country, you'd say condescendingly and dismissively, 'What do you expect from that country?' but this was our country," Dr. Wecht said. "This should bother you so much; this should be so distressing, even 50 years later."
Dr. Wecht, who used a skull and dissected a brain during his address to illustrate his criticism of the autopsy and what wasn't done, said the "cold case" needs to be reopened.
"The Warren Commission Report is scientifically absurd," he said. The burden of the report's detractors is not to have all the answers about the assassination, he said, but to point out defects in the investigation, which they have done. He received a standing ovation.
Among the speakers today will be Academy Award-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone, director of the controversial 1991 film "JFK" and director/narrator of the Showtime docu-series "Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States."
Speaking via teleconference to a Duquesne University symposium marking the 50th anniversary of the assassination, Robert N. McClelland said he was the first doctor in Parkland Hospital's Trauma Room One to notice the massive wound in the back of Kennedy's skull and that a trauma of that size had to be an exit wound.
"The whole right side of his skull was gone. I could look inside his skull cavity. Obviously, it was a mortal wound," he told a spellbound audience of legal, medical, forensic and investigative experts and the public who packed the university's Power Ballroom.
Dr. McClelland, now 83 and professor emeritus at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, said that because it was an exit wound, it logically followed that it had been fired from in front of the president's limousine. And, in turn, that meant a second gunman was involved in the assassination, contradicting the Warren Commission's finding that there was but one assassin.
The Warren Commission determined that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone when he fired three times with a high-powered rifle on the president's motorcade in Dealey Plaza from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. The commission said that one bullet missed, another went through the president's neck and also wounded Texas Gov. John Connolly -- the so-called "single bullet theory" -- and the third caused the fatal head wound.
But Dr. McClelland was resolute. "Having seen what I saw" in the emergency room and then viewing the Zapruder film of the assassination, he said, he believes JFK "was initially hit from a bullet fired from the sixth floor that went through his back and out through his neck. The next injury was caused by somebody behind the picket fence on the grassy knoll firing a shot that blew out the right side of his head."
Speaking on the first day of the three-day symposium sponsored by the university's Cyril H. Wecht Institute of Forensic Science and Law, Dr. McClelland also recounted how two days after Kennedy's assassination he and other surgeons tried in vain to save Oswald's life after he was shot by Jack Rubywhile being transferred from Dallas police headquarters to the county jail.
In his address, Dr. Wecht, the renowned forensic pathologist and longtime critic of the Warren Report, railed against what he called was the "inept, inexplicable, totally incompetent" autopsy performed on the president by Navy pathologists James J. Humes and J. Thornton Boswell. They concluded the president had been struck by two bullets, fired from above and behind, with the fatal shot being the one that struck his head.
"They had never done a single gunshot wound autopsy before. If you heard of this in another country, you'd say condescendingly and dismissively, 'What do you expect from that country?' but this was our country," Dr. Wecht said. "This should bother you so much; this should be so distressing, even 50 years later."
Dr. Wecht, who used a skull and dissected a brain during his address to illustrate his criticism of the autopsy and what wasn't done, said the "cold case" needs to be reopened.
"The Warren Commission Report is scientifically absurd," he said. The burden of the report's detractors is not to have all the answers about the assassination, he said, but to point out defects in the investigation, which they have done. He received a standing ovation.
Among the speakers today will be Academy Award-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone, director of the controversial 1991 film "JFK" and director/narrator of the Showtime docu-series "Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States."
JFK Murder Solved Forum
A forum to discuss the information presented on JFKmurderSolved.com
http://forum.jfkmurdersolved.com/viewtopic.php?p=40481
Dr. Robert McClelland in Trauma Room One
http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee363/Traveller111/images-24.jpg
http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee363/Traveller111/images-11.jpg
http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee363/Traveller111/images-25_zps768a4959.jpg
Testimony
Of Dr. Robert Nelson Mcclelland
http://jfkassassination.net/russ/testimony/mcclella.htm
Testimony Of Dr. Robert Nelson McClelland
The testimony of Dr. Robert Nelson McClelland was taken on March 21, 1964,
at Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas, Tex., by Mr. Arlen Specter,
assistant counsel of the President's Commission.
Mr. SPECTER - Before proceeding to describe what you did in connection
with the tracheostomy, will you more fully describe your observation with
respect to the head wound?
Dr. McCLELLAND - As I took the position at the head of the table that I
have already described, to help out with the tracheotomy, I was in such a
position that I could very closely examine the head wound, and I noted
that the right posterior portion of the skull had been extremely blasted.
It had been shattered, apparently, by the force of the shot so that the
http://jfkassassination.net/russ/testimony/mcclella.htm
Testimony Of Dr. Robert Nelson McClelland
The testimony of Dr. Robert Nelson McClelland was taken on March 21, 1964,
at Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas, Tex., by Mr. Arlen Specter,
assistant counsel of the President's Commission.
Mr. SPECTER - Before proceeding to describe what you did in connection
with the tracheostomy, will you more fully describe your observation with
respect to the head wound?
Dr. McCLELLAND - As I took the position at the head of the table that I
have already described, to help out with the tracheotomy, I was in such a
position that I could very closely examine the head wound, and I noted
that the right posterior portion of the skull had been extremely blasted.
It had been shattered, apparently, by the force of the shot so that the
parietal
bone was protruded up through the scalp and seemed to be
fractured almost along its right posterior half, as well as some of the
fractured almost along its right posterior half, as well as some of the
occipital
bone being fractured in its lateral haft, and this sprung open
the
bones that I mentioned in such a way that you could actually look down
into the
skull cavity itself and see that probably a third or so, at
least,
of the brain tissue, posterior cerebral tissue and some of the
cerebellar
tissue had been blasted out. There was a large amount of
bleeding which was occurring mainly from the large venous channels in the
skull which had been blasted open.
Mr. SPECTER - Was he conscious at that time that you saw him?
Dr. McCLELLAND - No.
Mr. SPECTER - And, at what time did he expire?
Dr. McCLELLAND - He was pronounced dead at 1 p.m. on November 22.
Mr. SPECTER - What was the cause of death in your opinion?
Dr. McCLELLAND - The cause of death, I would say, would be massive head
injuries with loss of large amounts of cerebral and cerebellar tissues and
massive blood loss.
Mr. SPECTER - Did you observe anything in the nature of a wound on his body
other than that which you have already described for me?
Dr. McCLELLAND - No.
Mr. SPECTER - In what position was President Kennedy maintained from the
time you saw him until the pronouncement of death?
Dr. McCLELLAND - On his back on the cart.
Mr. SPECTER - On his what?
Dr. McCLELLAND - On his back on the stretcher.
Mr. SPECTER - Was he on the stretcher at all times?
Dr. McCLELLAND - Yes.
Mr. SPECTER - In the trauma room No. 1 you described, is there any table on
to which he could be placed from the stretcher?
Dr. McCLELLAND - No; generally we do not move patients from the stretcher
until they are ready to go into the operating room and then they are moved
onto the operating table.
Mr. SPECTER - Well, in fact, was he left on the stretcher all during the
course of these procedures until he was pronounced dead?
Dr. McCLELLAND - That's right.
Mr. SPECTER - Then, at any time was he positioned in a way where you could
have seen the back of his body?
Dr. McCLELLAND - No.
Mr. SPECTER - Did you observe any gunshot wound on his back?
Dr. McCLELLAND - No.
Mr. SPECTER - What were your initial impressions?
Dr. McCLELLAND - The initial impression that we had was that perhaps the
bleeding which was occurring mainly from the large venous channels in the
skull which had been blasted open.
Mr. SPECTER - Was he conscious at that time that you saw him?
Dr. McCLELLAND - No.
Mr. SPECTER - And, at what time did he expire?
Dr. McCLELLAND - He was pronounced dead at 1 p.m. on November 22.
Mr. SPECTER - What was the cause of death in your opinion?
Dr. McCLELLAND - The cause of death, I would say, would be massive head
injuries with loss of large amounts of cerebral and cerebellar tissues and
massive blood loss.
Mr. SPECTER - Did you observe anything in the nature of a wound on his body
other than that which you have already described for me?
Dr. McCLELLAND - No.
Mr. SPECTER - In what position was President Kennedy maintained from the
time you saw him until the pronouncement of death?
Dr. McCLELLAND - On his back on the cart.
Mr. SPECTER - On his what?
Dr. McCLELLAND - On his back on the stretcher.
Mr. SPECTER - Was he on the stretcher at all times?
Dr. McCLELLAND - Yes.
Mr. SPECTER - In the trauma room No. 1 you described, is there any table on
to which he could be placed from the stretcher?
Dr. McCLELLAND - No; generally we do not move patients from the stretcher
until they are ready to go into the operating room and then they are moved
onto the operating table.
Mr. SPECTER - Well, in fact, was he left on the stretcher all during the
course of these procedures until he was pronounced dead?
Dr. McCLELLAND - That's right.
Mr. SPECTER - Then, at any time was he positioned in a way where you could
have seen the back of his body?
Dr. McCLELLAND - No.
Mr. SPECTER - Did you observe any gunshot wound on his back?
Dr. McCLELLAND - No.
Mr. SPECTER - What were your initial impressions?
Dr. McCLELLAND - The initial impression that we had was that perhaps the
wound in
the neck, the anterior part of the neck, was an entrance wound
and that it had perhaps taken a trajectory off the anterior vertebral body
and again into the skull itself, exiting out the back, to produce the
and that it had perhaps taken a trajectory off the anterior vertebral body
and again into the skull itself, exiting out the back, to produce the
massive
injury in the head. However, this required some straining of the
imagination to imagine that this would happen, and it was much easier to
explain the apparent trajectory by means of two bullets, which we later
found out apparently had been fired, than by just one then, on which basis
we were originally taking to explain it.
Mr. SPECTER - Through the use of the pronoun "we" in your last answer, to whom do you mean by "we"?
Dr. McCLELLAND - Essentially all of the doctors that have previously been mentioned here.
Mr. SPECTER - Did you observe the condition of the back of the President's head?
Dr. McCLELLAND - Well, partially; not, of course, as I say, we did not lift his head up since it was so greatly damaged. We attempted to avoid moving him any more than it was absolutely necessary, but I could see, of course, all the extent of the wound.
Mr. SPECTER - You saw a large opening which you have already described?
Dr. McCLELLAND - I saw the large opening which I have described.
Mr. SPECTER - Did you observe any other wound on the back of the head?
Dr. McCLELLAND - No.
Mr. SPECTER - Did you observe a small gunshot wound below the large opening on the back of the head?
Dr. McCLELLAND - No.
http://jfkassassination.net/russ/testimony/mcclella.htm
imagination to imagine that this would happen, and it was much easier to
explain the apparent trajectory by means of two bullets, which we later
found out apparently had been fired, than by just one then, on which basis
we were originally taking to explain it.
Mr. SPECTER - Through the use of the pronoun "we" in your last answer, to whom do you mean by "we"?
Dr. McCLELLAND - Essentially all of the doctors that have previously been mentioned here.
Mr. SPECTER - Did you observe the condition of the back of the President's head?
Dr. McCLELLAND - Well, partially; not, of course, as I say, we did not lift his head up since it was so greatly damaged. We attempted to avoid moving him any more than it was absolutely necessary, but I could see, of course, all the extent of the wound.
Mr. SPECTER - You saw a large opening which you have already described?
Dr. McCLELLAND - I saw the large opening which I have described.
Mr. SPECTER - Did you observe any other wound on the back of the head?
Dr. McCLELLAND - No.
Mr. SPECTER - Did you observe a small gunshot wound below the large opening on the back of the head?
Dr. McCLELLAND - No.
http://jfkassassination.net/russ/testimony/mcclella.htm
Notice how many people described the damage to the BOH with their
hands. It was mostly on the 'right rear' in the occiput, the lower part
of the BOH.
hands. It was mostly on the 'right rear' in the occiput, the lower part
of the BOH.
Simply a reiteration of the previous post, where McClelland says
the
kill shot was in the temple. A frontal shot.
kill shot was in the temple. A frontal shot.
Re-examination
of JFK Assassination Medical Data Reviews Single Shooter Versus Conspiracy
Theories
50th Anniversary Report in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Includes Interview with Kennedy's Physician
(October 30, 2013) Fifty years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the medical and scientific evidence may support the possibility of the "single shooter, three bullet theory" of the event. Yet new insights into the old medical data simultaneously suggest there may have been multiple shooters, according to a special article by Dr. Rod J. Rohrich, Editor-in-Chief of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).
Dr. Rohrich and coauthors revisit the medical data on President Kennedy's shooting and death—an event that continues to generate debate and skepticism to this day. Dr. Rohrich is Professor and Chairman of Plastic Surgery at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
The authors present a narrative of the events from that fateful November day, focusing on the medical steps taken to resuscitate President Kennedy at Parkland Memorial Hospital. The attempt was unsuccessful, and the President was declared dead 17 minutes after arrival at the hospital.
Controversy and conspiracy theories flared up almost immediately—from the debate over performing the autopsy to the conflicting results of government panel reports in subsequent years. Dr. Rohrich and colleagues write, "Much of this controversy was driven by incomplete information, poor documentation and analysis, and the puzzling decision to withhold key medical evidence from both from investigators and the public."
Based on his team's review, Dr. Rohrich says "A lot of the presented historical evidence shows that the single-shooter, three-bullet theory is plausible." However, in the face of divergent and contradicting evidence, the authors do not unequivocally support the single-shooter theory.
The competing evidence includes an exclusive video interview conducted with Dr. Robert McClelland—one of the last surviving members of the team of physicians who worked on President Kennedy at Parkland Memorial Hospital. He believes more than one shooter was involved. "I could actually look down within the skull cavity and see that the whole right back half of [Kennedy's] right cerebral hemisphere was gone," Dr. McClelland told Dr. Rohrich. "Not one shot caused all of these things."
Researchers point to three key areas affecting the multiple theories: size and location of the wounds, trajectory of the bullets and the lack of photographs and X-rays.
While researchers cannot point to one definitive theory, the medical data, and recent interview with Dr. McClelland are revealing. "Unfortunately, the controversy was not diminished by the divergent conclusions of the multiple commissions and panels that convened to investigate it," Dr. Rohrich says.
As a special feature, visitors to the Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery website can view the full interview with Dr. McClelland at PRSJournal.com.
In
the Eye of History: Disclosures in the JFK Assassination Medical Evidence
By William Matson Law
Chapter One Hotel California
"So tell me?" I said. "Tell me in your own words - I read your
testimony and I've seen the picture of the drawing you drew [of the head
wound]. But tell me in your own words."
Chapter One Hotel California
"So tell me?" I said. "Tell me in your own words - I read your
testimony and I've seen the picture of the drawing you drew [of the head
wound]. But tell me in your own words."
"Well basically," Dr. McClelland answered. "All of us, including
myself, said that the wound involved the occipital parietal area of the
skull. What that means is the back part of the skull, which the back most
extreme bone in the back part of the skull is the occipital bone. That
right side of that because the wound came out of the right side had been
extremely blasted away. In the back part, that is the posterior half of
the parietal bone, which is right next to the occipital bone, which
comprises the back of the head, but is mostly the side of the head, so in
essence, what were saying is that the wound involved the back, the
posterior part of the side of the head. It was probably about, I would
estimate, something like two or three inches in diameter. A very large
wound."
"I then asked Dr. McClleland, "You didn't see an opening in the top
part of his head, did you?" To which he answered, "Well, actually that was
part of the top of his head, the back part of the top of his head, and the
back of his head was blasted out. It was a very large hole. That's what
makes me think it was an exit wound and not an entrance wound. You've
seen the autopsy photographs, I'm sure?"
I said. "Yes, did the wound look like that?" Dr. McClellands answer
surprised me. "It looked pretty much like that, except in one of the
picture they showed."
In the Eye of History
Disclosures in the JFK Assassination Medical Evidence
By William Matson Law
Trine Day, Hardcover, 9781634240468, 528pp.
Publication Date: November 19, 2015
http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781634240468
Excerpts
https://books.google.com/books?id=3YPiCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT53&lpg=PT53&dq=written+reports+by+dr+mcclelland&source=bl&ots=NufdRgZIbf&sig=Y1l3DHCRe9I1ren0SUtViG9ji0Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi0-ImZ_d7PAhVC4SYKHZiZCh8Q6AEILTAD#v=onepage&q=written%20reports%20by%20dr%20mcclelland&f=false
JFK FACTS
What did JFK’s doctors think about his wounds?
http://jfkfacts.org/what-did-dr-mcclelland-think-about-jfks-wounds/
April 23, 2013
The first senior physician to attend President Kennedy after he was fatally wounded in Dallas on November 22, 1963, was Dr. Robert McClelland of Parkland Hospital. By any standard, he is a credible witness.
In Part 1 of this YouTube feature, a 2009 radio interview, Dr. McClelland talks about treating President Kennedy after he had been shot, including his neck wound. McClelland says he could not tell if it was an entrance or an exit wound.
In Part 2, McClelland talks about how the Dallas doctors missed the bullet wound in JFK’s back.
Most ER
doctors can not tell the difference between an entrance wound
and an exit wound. I don't blame Parkland. They did the best they could.
and an exit wound. I don't blame Parkland. They did the best they could.
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