Warren Commission (06 of 26): Hearings Vol. VI (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (06 of 26): Hearings Vol. VI (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
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 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. 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 alive at the time you first saw him?
Dr. McCLELLAND. I really couldn't say, because as I mentioned in the
hectic activity--I really couldn't say what his blood pressure was or
what his pulse was or anything of that sort. The only thing I could say
that would perhaps give evidence--this is not vital activity--at most,
is that maybe he made one or two spontaneous respiratory movements but
it would be difficult to say, since the machine was being used on him,
whether these were true spontaneous respirations or not.
Mr. SPECTER. Would you now describe the activity and part that you
performed in the treatment which followed your arrival?
Dr. McCLELLAND. Yes; as I say, all I did was simply assist Dr. Perry
and Dr. Baxter in doing the tracheotomy. All three of us worked
together in making an incision in the neck, tracting the neck muscles
out of the way, and making a small opening into the trachea near the
spot where the trachea had already been blasted or torn open by the
fragment of the bullet, and inserting a large metal tracheotomy tube
into this hole, and after this the breathing apparatus was attached to
this instead of the previous tube which had been placed here.
Mr. SPECTER. In conducting that operation, did you observe any interior
damage to the President?
Dr. McCLELLAND. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. Will you describe that for me, please?
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