Warren Commission (05 of 26): Hearings Vol. V (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (05 of 26): Hearings Vol. V (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Dr. OLIVIER. Yes; from reading the surgeon's report and also from
talking to Dr. Gregory and Dr. Shaw.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you have access to the medical reports of Parkland
Hospital concerning the wounds of Governor Connally in all respects?
Dr. OLIVIER. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. And did you have occasion to discuss those wounds in
great detail with Dr. Shaw and Dr. Gregory when they were present in
Washington, D.C. on April 21, 1964, preparatory to their testifying
before this Commission?
Dr. OLIVIER. Yes; I did.
Mr. SPECTER. What was the nature of the wound on Governor Connally's
back?
Dr. OLIVIER. The surgeon's report described it as about 3 centimeters
long, its longest dimension, and it is hard for me to remember reading
it or discussing it with him but I did both. Apparently it was a jagged
wound. He said a wound like this consists of two things, usually a
defect in the epidermis and a central hole which is small, and he could
put his finger in it so it was a fairly large wound.
Mr. SPECTER. What was the path of the bullet in a general way, based on
the information provided to you concerning Governor Connally's wound in
the back?
Dr. OLIVIER. Apparently it passed along the rib. I don't recall which
rib it was but passed the fifth rib, passed along this rib causing a
fracture that I believe removed about 10 centimeters of the rib through
fragments through the pleura, lacerating the lung. I asked Dr. Shaw
directly whether he thought the bullet had gone through the pleural
cavity and he said he didn't believe that it had, that the damage was
done by the rib fragments. Then the bullet exited as described somewhat
below the right nipple.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you perform a test on goat substance to endeavor to
measure the reduction in velocity of a missile similar to the one which
passed through Governor Connally?
Dr. OLIVIER. Yes; I did.
Mr. SPECTER. Why was goat substance selected for that purpose in the
testing procedure?
Dr. OLIVIER. We usually use this in our work so we are familiar with
it. I am not saying it is the only substance that could be used, but we
were not using any unknown procedures or any procedures that we hadn't
used already.
Mr. SPECTER. Does it closely simulate the nature of a wound in the
human body?
Dr. OLIVIER. In this particular instance it did.
Mr. SPECTER. Was the wound inflicted on the goat, then, subjected to
X-ray analysis for the purpose of determining the precise nature of the
wound and for comparison purposes with that wound----
Dr. OLIVIER. Yes; it was.
Mr. SPECTER. Inflicted on Connally?
Dr. OLIVIER. Yes; it was.
Mr. SPECTER. I now hand you an X-ray marked Commission Exhibit 851 and
ask you to state what that shows?
Dr. OLIVIER. It shows a fractured rib. From this you wouldn't be able
to--well, if you were a better radiologist than I was, you might be
able to tell which one, but it was the eighth left rib. It shows a
comminuted fracture extending some distance along the rib.
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