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
Mr. SPECTER. So, you aided in a general way in the treatment of him as
an emergency case?
Dr. CURTIS. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. Now, would you continue to tell me what you have observed
with respect to his condition when you first saw him, including what
you noted, if anything, with respect to his respiration.
Dr. CURTIS. It is very difficult to say whether or not the President
was making a respiratory effort, but I'm not sure that he wasn't making
a respiratory effort.
Mr. SPECTER. Do you think that he was making a respiratory effort?
Dr. CURTIS. He could have been, and that's as far as I can go on it.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you observe movements of the chest?
Dr. CURTIS. I thought I did.
Mr. SPECTER. What was his coloring?
Dr. CURTIS. He was pink--he wasn't cyanotic when I saw him.
Mr. SPECTER. And will you explain in lay terms what cyanotic means for
the record at this point?
Dr. CURTIS. When the hemoglobin of the blood is reduced, it turns a
blue color and the patient becomes blue, when a certain percentage of
the hemoglobin is reduced. That's not a lay term either, but when the
patient is in oxygen need or oxygen want, cyanosis would be apparent.
Mr. SPECTER. And how does that manifest itself in the patient?
Dr. CURTIS. The patient will be a blue, gray, ashen color.
Mr. SPECTER. What action was Dr. Carrico taking upon your arrival?
Dr. CURTIS. He had placed an endotracheal tube in the President's
trachea for artificial respiration.
Mr. SPECTER. Was he doing anything else?
Dr. CURTIS. Yes; he was applying the Bird machine.
Mr. SPECTER. Will you describe what other steps he was taking, if any?
Dr. CURTIS. He directed that a tracheotomy setup be brought to the
emergency room, and I think it was Dr. Carrico directed me to start the
I.V. fluids.
Mr. SPECTER. And what, if anything, did you do in response to his
direction?
Dr. CURTIS. I assisted him in fitting the tube from the Bird machine
to the endotracheal tube and I assisted in removing some of the
President's clothes and did the cutdown on his leg.
Mr. SPECTER. And what, specifically, did you do pursuant to the cutdown
on his leg?
Dr. CURTIS. A small incision was made on the ankle and a vein is
bluntly dissected free, small holes placed in the vein and a venous
catheter is placed in this vein and a purse string ligature is then
tied around the catheter at one end, and then the wound was closed with
sutures.
Mr. SPECTER. Now, did you do anything else to the President following
that operative procedure?
Dr. CURTIS. Then, the initial cutdown that I started was ineffective
and infiltrated into the tissues. I think possibly I cut the knot
too close of the purse string ligature, so I was getting ready to do
another one and it was decided since fluids were going in the other
leg, it wouldn't be necessary.
Mr. SPECTER. What other action did you take, if any, in the treatment
of the President?
Dr. CURTIS. That's all.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you remain in the trauma room No. 1?
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