WCR Appendix VIII - The Parkland Doctors' Medical Reports

[David Josephs]

Great Job Bob... I am adding this to contrast the Parkland evidence to the HUMES Bethesda evidence...

This is the description of the wounds Humes gave the WC.... and an illustration of what he is saying....


By the time the casket was opened at 8pm and the audible gasp echoes in the morgue at the horrible condition of the man's head, over an hour of brutal surgery had been performed by a man barely qualified to perform it...


"We found that the right cerebral hemisphere was markedly disrupted. There was a longitudinal laceration of the right hemisphere which was parasagittal in position. By the sagittal plane, as you may know, is a plane in the midline which would divide the brain into right and left halves. This laceration was parasagittal. It was situated approximately (1 & 2) 2.5 cm. to the right of the midline, and extended from the tip of occipital lobe, which is the posterior portion of the brain, to the tip of the frontal lobe which is the most anterior portion of the brain, and it extended from the top down to the substance of the brain a distance of approximately 5 or 6 cm. The base of the laceration was situated approximately 4.5 cm. below the vertex in the white matter. By the vertex we mean--the highest point on the skull is referred to as the vertex.
The area in which the greatest loss of brain substance was particularly in the parietal lobe, which is the major portion of the right cerebral hemisphere.
The margins of this laceration at all points were jagged and irregular, with additional lacerations extending in varying directions and for varying distances from the main laceration.
In addition, there was a (3) laceration of the corpus callosum which is a body of fibers which connects the two hemispheres of the brain to each other, which extended from the posterior to the anterior portion of this structure, that is the corpus callosum. Exposed in this laceration were portions of the ventricular system in which the spinal fluid normally is disposed within the brain.
When viewed from above the left cerebral hemisphere was intact. There was engorgement of blood vessels in the meninges covering the brain. We note that the gyri and sulci, which are the convolutions of the brain over the left hemisphere were of normal size and distribution.
Those on the right were too fragmented and distorted for satisfactory description.
(4) When the brain was turned over and viewed from its basular or inferior aspect, there was found a longitudinal laceration of the mid-brain through the floor of the third ventricle, just behind the optic chiasma and the mammillary bodies. This laceration partially communicates with an oblique 1.5 cm. tear through the left cerebral peduncle. This is a portion of the brain which connects the higher centers of the brain with the spinal cord which is more concerned with reflex actions."

[Bob Prudhomme]

Next up is Dr. Charles R. Baxter:


PARKLAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
ADMISSION NOTE
DATE AND HOUR NOV 22, 1963 DOCTOR: BAXTER
Note of Attendance to President Kennedy.
I was contacted at approx 12:40 that the President was on the way to the emergency room having been shot. On arrival there, I found an endotracheal tube in place with assisted respirations, a left chest tube being inserted and cut downs going in one leg and in the left arm. The President had a wound in the mid-line of the neck. On first observation of the remaining wounds the rt temporal and occipital bones were missing and the brain was lying on the table, with .extensive lacerations and contusions. The pupils were fixed and deviated lateral and dilated. No pulse was detectable and respirations were (as noted) being supplied. A tracheotomy was performed by Dr. Perry and I and a chest tube inserted into the right chest (2[SUP]nd[/SUP] intercostal space anteriorally). Meanwhile, 2 pts of O neg blood were administered by pump without response. When all of these measures were complete, no heart beat could be detected. Close chest message was performed until a cardioscope could be attached which revealed no cardiac activity was obtained. Due to the excessive and irreparable brain damage which was lethal, no further attempt to resuscitate the heart was made.

Charles R. Baxter M.D.
Associate Prof of Surgery
Southwestern Medical School

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note that Dr. Baxter reported "the rt (right) temporal and occipital bones were missing". The occipital bone lies under the undamaged area seen on the back of JFK's head in the official WC "back of head" photo. Once again, below, the occipital bone:



And the temporal bone. Note that neither of these bones is anywhere close to the top of the head:

[Drew Phipps]

Curious that none of the doctors but Baxter saw anything in the temporal area. Also, Bob, I believe the green highlighted temporal bone would be the LEFT temporal bone, not the right.

[Bob Prudhomme]

Curious that none of the doctors but Baxter saw anything in the temporal area. Also, Bob, I believe the green highlighted temporal bone would be the LEFT temporal bone, not the right.

Guess what, Drew? The one on the right looks just like the one on the left, only mirrored.

[Bob Prudhomme]

Next up is Dr. W. Kemp Clark:


PARKLAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
ADMISSION NOTE
JOHN F. KENNEDY
DATE AND HOUR 22 Nov 1963 DOCTOR:
12:20pm to 13:00 hrs
Called by EOR while standing in (illegible) Laboratory at SWMS. Told that the President had been shot. I arrived at the EOR at 1220 - 1225 and .The President was bleeding profusely from the back of the head. There was a large (3 x 3cm) amount of cerebral tissue present on the cart. There was a smaller amount of cerebellar tissue present also.
A tracheostomy was being performed by Drs. Perry, Baxter and McClelland. Exam of the President showed that an endotracheal tube was in place and respiratory assistance was being given by Dr. Akins and Jenkins. The pupils were dilated, fixed to light and his eyes were deviated outward and the right one downward as as well .
The trach was completed and I adjusted the endotracheal tube a little bit. Blood was present in the oral pharynx. Suction was used to remove this. Levine Catheter was passed into the stomach at this time.
He was (illegible) that I (illegible) no carotid pulse. I immediately began closed chest massage. A pulse was obtained at the carotid and femoral pulse levels.
Dr. Perry then took over the cardiac massage so I could evaluate the head wound.
There was a large wound beginning in the right occiput extending into the parietal region. Much of the skull appeared gone at brief examination . The previously described lacerated brain was present.
By this time an EKG was hooked up. There was no electrical activity of the heart and no respiratory effort - He was pronounced dead at 1300 hrs by me.

W. Kemp Clark

22 Nov 1963
1615 hrs -

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once again, cerebral and cerebellar tissue was observed, plus the President was "bleeding profusely from the back of the head". Clark placed the large wound as "beginning in the right occiput extending into the parietal region". Once again, the official WC back of head autopsy photo shows no such wound.

The right parietal bone:

[Drew Phipps]

I know they look the same. It's just that some people don't believe that a shot from the Grassy Knoll would enter the right temple and not exit the left side of the skull. I don't want you to confuse the issue here.

[Bob Prudhomme]

Next up is Dr. Robert N. McClelland:


PARKLAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
ADMISSION NOTE
DATE AND HOUR Nov. 22, 1963 4:45 P.M. DOCTOR: Robert N. McClelland
Statement Regarding Assassination of President Kennedy
At approximately 12:45 PM on the above date I was called from the second floor of Parkland Hospital and went immediately to the Emergency Operating Room. When I arrived President Kennedy was being attended by Drs Malcolm Perry, Charles Baxter, James Carrico, and Ronald Jones. The President was at the time comatose from a massive gunshot wound of the head with a fragment wound of the trachea. An endotracheal tube and assisted respiration was started immediately by Dr. Carrico on Duty in the EOR when the President arrived. Drs. Perry, Baxter, and I then performed a tracheotomy for respiratory distress and tracheal injury and Dr. Jones and Paul Peters inserted bilateral anterior chest tubes for pneumothoracis secondary to the tracheomediastinal injury. Simultaneously Dr. Jones had started 3 cut-downs giving blood and fluids immediately, In spite of this, at 12:55 he was pronounced dead by Dr. Kemp Clark the neurosurgeon and professor of neurosurgery who arrived immediately after I did. The cause of death was due to massive head and brain injury from a gunshot wound of the left temple. He was pronounced dead after external cardiac message failed and ECG activity was gone. Robert N. McClelland M.D.
Asst. Prof. of Surgery
Southwestern Med.
School of Univ of Tex.
Dallas, Texas

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While Dr. McClelland does not describe the location of the large head wound, his report is unique in that it locates the entry wound for the large head wound, and places it at the left temple. This is definitely not the only reference by medical personnel of an entrance wound at this location. He is also the only one to report a reason for the insertion of chest tubes, that being for pneumothoracies of the lungs. As he was unaware of the back wound, Dr. McClelland believed the pneumothoracies were related to the trachea wound.

[Bob Prudhomme]

Next up is Dr. F. Bashour:


PARKLAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
ADMISSION NOTE
DATE AND HOUR Nov. 22, 1963 4:45 P.M. DOCTOR: BASHOUR
Statement Regarding Assassination of the President of the U.S.A., President Kennedy.
At 12:50 PM, we were called from the 1st floor of Parkland Hospital and told that President Kennedy was shot. Dr. D ?? and myself went to the emergency room of Parkland. Upon examination, the President had no pulsation, no heartbeat, no blood pressure. The oscilloscope showed a complete standstill. The president was declared dead at 12:55 P.M.

F. Bashour M.D.
Associate Professor of Cardiology
Southwestern Medical School
Dallas, Texas.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dr. Bashour's report is the briefest report found in Appendix VIII, and reveals only very basic information. It would be interesting to know who Dr. D?? is though.

[Bob Prudhomme]

Next up is Dr. Marion T. Jenkins:


THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL SCHOOL
DALLAS
November 22, 1963
1630
To: Mr. C.J. Price, Administrator Parkland Memorial Hospital
From: M.T. Jenkins, M.D., Professor and Chairman Department of Anesthesiology
Subject: Statement concerning resuscitative efforts for President John F. Kennedy
Upon receiving a stat alarm that this distinguished patient was being brought to the emergency room at Parkland Memorial Hospital, I dispatched Doctors A . H. Giesecke and Jackie H. Hunt with an anesthesia machine and resuscitative equipment to the major surgical emergency room area, and I ran down the stairs . On my arrival in the emergency operating room at approximately 1230 I found that Doctors Carrico and/or Delaney had begun resuscitative efforts by introducing an orotracheal tube, connecting it for controlled ventilation to a Bennett intermittent positive pressure breathing apparatus . Doctors Charles Baxter, Malcolm Perry, and Robert McClelland arrived at the same time and began a tracheostomy and started the insertion of a right chest tube, since there was also obvious tracheal and chest damage . Doctors Paul Peters and Kemp Clark arrived simultaneously and immediately thereafter assisted respectively with the insertion of the right chest tube and with manual closed chest cardiac compression to assure circulation.
For better control of artificial ventilation, I exchanged the intermittent positive pressure breathing apparatus for an anesthesia machine and continued artificial ventilation . Doctors Gene Akin and A . H. Giesecke assisted with the respiratory problems incident to changing from the orotracheal tube to a tracheostomy tube, and Doctors Hunt and Giesecke connected a cardioscope to determine cardiac activity.
During the progress of these activities, the emergency room cart was elevated at the feet in order to provide a Trendelenburg position, a venous cutdown was performed on the right saphenous vein, and additional fluids were begun in a vein in the left forearm while blood was ordered from the blood bank . All of these activities were completed by approximately 1245, at which time external cardiac massage was still being carried out effectively by Doctor Clark as judged by a palpable peripheral pulse. Despite these measures there was no electrocardiographic evidence of cardiac activity .
These described resuscitative activities were indicated as of first importance, and after they were carried out attention was turned to all other evidences of injury . There was a great laceration on the right side of the head (temporal and occipital), causing a great defect in the skull plate so that there was herniation and laceration of great areas of the brain, even to the extent that the cerebellum had protruded from the wound. There were also fragmented sections of brain on the drapes of the emergency room cart . With the institution of adequate cardiac compression, there was a great flow of blood from the cranial cavity, indicating that there was much vascular damage as well as brain tissue damage .
It is my personal feeling that all methods of resuscitation were instituted expeditiously and efficiently . However, this cranial and intracranial damage was of such magnitude as to cause the irreversible damage . President Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1300 . Sincerely,
/s/ M. T. Jenkins
M. T. Jenkins, M.D .

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dr. Jenkins gives us further insight into Dr. McClelland's reference to the insertion of chest tubes for the relief of pneumothoraces in the lungs. In fact. Fr. Jenkins only mentions the right chest tube, "since there was also obvious tracheal and chest damage". While it is easy to assume the chest tube was inserted to prevent a pneumothorax that could be brought on by positive pressure assisted ventilation, this mention of chest damage by Dr. Jenkins is unique in that it tells us the chest tube had been inserted to relieve an already existing pneumothorax in the right lung. Not knowing of the bullet wound in the back, Jenkins could only assume the signs of a right pneumothorax were somehow related to the tracheal wound. This is a very important point, as this report, along with Jenkins WC testimony, gives us clues pointing out the distinct possibility JFK was shot in the upper portion of his right lung with a disintegrating frangible bullet that did not exit the right lung.

Once again, a large wound is described in the occipital and temporal region of JFK's skull and, once again, this wound is not seen in the WC back of head autopsy photo.

[Bob Prudhomme]

That is all of the medical reports, from doctors present at the treatment of JFK, that the Warren Commission chose to include in Appendix VIII. Missing from this list are reports from Dr. Charles Crenshaw, Dr. Paul Peters, Dr. Ronald C. Jones, Dr. Kenneth Salyer, Dr. Donald Seldin, Dr. Gene Akin, Dr. A.H. Giesecke and Dr. Delaney. It is interesting to note that, while Dr. Charles Crenshaw played a major role in the attempted resuscitation of JFK, his report was not included in Appendix VIII of the WCR, nor was he called to testify before the WC. It is further interesting to note that Dr. Crenshaw is the author of the book "Conspiracy of Silence", released in 1992. This book shook the JFK research community, as Dr. Crenshaw was the first Parkland doctor to step forward to publicly condemn the medical findings of the Warren Commission.

Dr. Charles Crenshaw, surgeon at Parkland Hospital: The headwound was difficult to see when he was laying on the back of his head. However, afterwards when they moved his face towards the left, one could see the large, right rear parietal, occipital, blasted out hole, the size of my fist, which is 2 and a half inches in diameter. The brain, cerebreal portion had been flurred out and also there was the cerebrellum hanging out from that wound. It was clearly an exit wound from the right rear, behind the ear. A right occipital area hole, the size of my fist.