Warren Commission (04 of 26): Hearings Vol. IV (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (04 of 26): Hearings Vol. IV (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Mr. SPECTER. What operative procedures did you employ in caring for the
wound of the chest, Dr. Shaw.
Dr. SHAW. The first measure was to excise the edges of the wound of
exit in an elliptical fashion, and then this incision was carried in a
curved incision along the lateral portion of the right chest up toward
the right axilla in order to place the skin incision lower than the
actual path of the bullet through the chest wall.
After this incision had been carried down to the level of the muscles
attached to the rib cage, all of the damaged muscle which was chiefly
the serratus anterior muscle which digitates along the fifth rib at
this position, was cleaned away, cut away with sharp dissection.
As soon as--of course, this incision had been made, the opening through
the parietal pleura, which is the lining of the inside of the chest was
very obvious. It was necessary to trim away several small fragments
of the rib which were still hanging to tags of periosteum, the lining
of the rib, and the ragged ends of the rib were smoothed off with a
rongeur.
Mr. SPECTER. What damage had been inflicted upon a rib, if any, Dr.
Shaw?
Dr. SHAW. About 10 centimeters of the fifth rib starting at the, about
the mid-axillary line and going to the anterior axillary line, as we
describe it, or that would be the midline at the armpit going to the
anterior lateral portion of the chest had been stripped away by the
missile.
Mr. SPECTER. What is the texture of the rib at the point where the
missile struck?
Dr. SHAW. The texture of the rib here is not of great density. The
cortex of the rib in the lateral portions of our ribs, is thin with the
so-called cancellus portion of the rib being very spongy, offering very
little resistance to pressure or to fracturing.
Mr. SPECTER. What effect, if any, would the striking of that rib have
had to the trajectory of the bullet?
Dr. SHAW. It could have had a slight, caused a slight deflection of the
rib, but probably not a great deflection of the rib, because of the
angle at which it struck and also because of the texture of the rib at
this time.
Mr. SPECTER. You say deflection of the rib or deflection of the bullet?
Dr. SHAW. Deflection of the bullet, I am sorry.
Mr. SPECTER. Was any metallic substance from the bullet left in the
thoracic cage as a result of the passage of the bullet through the
Governor's body?
Dr. SHAW. No. We saw no evidence of any metallic material in the X-ray
that we had of the chest, and we found none during the operation.
Mr. SPECTER. Have you brought the X-rays with you, Dr. Shaw, from
Parkland Hospital?
Dr. SHAW. Yes; we have them here.
Mr. SPECTER. May the record show we have available a viewer for the
X-rays.
Dr. Shaw, would you, by use of the viewer, exhibit the X-rays of
the Governor's chest to show more graphically that which you have
heretofore described?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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