Some of the doctors who attended President John
F. Kennedy in Trauma Room One at Parkland Memorial
Hospital have reputedly modified their descriptions
of JFK's head injuries they initially observed on
22 November 1963, most especially in so called interviews
conducted by author Gerald Posner. Posner's book
has been widely quoted and positively evaluated by
the main stream media, but many JFK writers and researchers
doubt that Posner ever actually interviewed the doctors
he has quoted. Therefore, statements attributed to
Parkland doctors need to be compared to what they
have said previously, and particularly what they
have said under oath. [1. For a full list of
doctors attending JFK, see Brad Parker and Dr. Charles
Crenshaw, "Known Personnel
In/Out Of Trauma Room One,"
The Assassination Chronicles, December, 1995.]
Several Parkland doctors have hinted that maintaining
their original statements and speaking out against
the official Warren Commission conclusions would
have been detrimental to their careers. I suspect
that in some instances stronger pressure was brought
to bear.
In the Dealey Plaza UK research group (to which
I belong), we believe that the earliest evidence
and testimony is usually the most reliable. And no
better source for a description of the wounds is
available than those recorded in the Parkland doctors'
own reports before the doctors were visited by the
Secret Service.
According to
Gerald Posner, Dr Carrico said to him in an interview
Posner says he conducted on March 8th, 1992: "We
saw a large hole on the right side of his head.
I don't believe we saw any occipital bone. It
was not there. It was parietal bone." [2. Gerald
Posner, "Case Closed" (London: Warner Books,
1994) 311.]
But what did Dr. Carrico report
originally?
The
Parkland doctors attempted "...to control
slow oozing from cerebral and cerebellar tissue
via pads instituted."[
3.
Warren Commission Exhibit 392: in R, Appendix VIII "Medical
Reports From Doctors At Parkland Memorial Hospital,
Dallas, TX"
516 537, hereafter cited as CE 392.]
"I
believe there was shredded and macerated cerebral
and cerebellar tissues both in the wounds and
on the fragments of skull."[ 4.
WC Volume 6 H 6.]
"This
[wound] was a 5cm by 17cm defect in the posterior
skull, the occipital region. There was an absence
of the calvarium or skull in this area."[ 5.
WC Volume 3 H 361.]
"[There
was]...a fairly large wound on the right side
of the head in the parietal/occipital area. One
could see blood and brains, both cerebellum and
cerebrum fragments in that wound."[ 6.
WC Volume 7 H 268.]
Adolph Giesecke, Staff Anesthesiologist:
According to Gerald Posner,
Dr. Giesecke said to him in an interview Posner
says he conducted on March 5th, 1992: "I was
wrong in my Warren Commission testimony... I never
got that good a look at it [the head]...[and] the
occipital and parietal region are so close together
it is possible to mistake one for the other."[7.
Posner 311, 312.]
But what did Dr. Giesecke report
originally?
"It seemed
that from the vertex to the left ear, and from
the browline to the occiput on the left hand
side of the head the cranium was entirely missing."[ 8.
WC Volume 6 H 74.]
As an anesthetist, Dr. Giesecke
worked at the "head" of the table, so
his "left" would also be JFK's "left." It
is difficult, therefore, to explain Giesecke's
confusion as to which side the head wound was on.
Still, his closeness to the wound lends credibility
to his description: substitute "right" for
Giesecke's left and read his comment again.
Marion Jenkins
(Professor And Chairman Of Anaesthesiology):
According to Gerald Posner, Dr Jenkins
said to him in an interview Posner says he conducted
on March 3rd, 1992:
"...[T]here could not
be any cerebellum. The autopsy photo, with the
rear of the head intact and a protrusion in the
parietal region, is the way I remember it. I never
did say occipital." [ 9.
Posner 311.]
But what did Dr. Jenkins say in
his earlier reports and in his Warren Commission
testimony?
"There
was a great laceration on the right side of the
head (temporal and occipital)...even to the extent
that the cerebellum had protruded from the wound."
"I really
think part of the cerebellum, as I recognized
it, was herniated from the wound...." [10.
David Lifton, Best Evidence New York: Carroll
and Graf, 1988,paperback edition of the 1980 edition
324.]
Contrary to his alleged Posner
interview, Dr. Jenkins both wrote and said "occipital."[11.
Harrison Edward Livingstone, Killing the Truth, New
York: Carroll & Graf, 1993, 176.]
Charles Baxter
(Professor Of Surgery; Director
Of Emergency Room)
According to Gerald Posner,
Dr. Baxter said to him in an interview Posner says
he conducted on March 12th, 1992: "I never
even saw the back of his head. The wound was on
the right side, not the back."[12. Posner 311,
312.]
But what did Dr. Baxter originally
report?
"The
right temporal and occipital bones were missing
and the brain was lying on the table." [13.
CE 392.]
Paul Peters
(Assistant Professor Of Urology):
According to Gerald Posner,
Dr. Peters said to him in an interview Posner says
he conducted on March 10th, 1992: "[The cerebellum]
is definitely pressed down and that would be the
damage I referred to...." [14.Posner 312.]
But what did Dr. Peters report to
David Lifton, a number of years before the alleged
Posner interview?
"I could
see the occipital lobes clearly.... I thought
it looked like the cerebellum was injured, or
missing, because the occipital lobes seemed almost
on the foramen magnum." [15.
7 H 286, CD
392]
This statement is especially revealing,
since Peters apparently had an excellent view of
the head wound; given his description, the bulk
of the cerebellum must have been missing.
And what did
Dr. Peters report to Harrison Livingston when
he asked the doctor whether the hole was
"...above
his right ear or behind his right ear?" Peters
answered: "It was both. It really went behind
and also a bit forward of the ear."[16. Livingstone]
Malcolm Perry
(Assistant Professor Of Surgery):
According to Gerald Posner, Dr.
Perry said to him in an interview Posner says he
conducted on March 12th, 1992: "I never even
saw the back of his head. The wound was on the
right side, not the back."[17. Posner, 312]
And again, according to Posner, Perry said to him
in a second interview Posner says he conducted
on April 2nd, 1992: "I
did not see any cerebellum."[18. Posner 312.]
But Doctor
Perry told the House Select Committee on Assassinations"...the
parietal occipital head wound was largely evulsive
and there was visible brain tissue...and some cerebellum." [19.
CE 392 link
to transcript and audio]
Despite
the alleged statements reportedly made to Gerald
Posner, the doctors indeed identified JFK's head
wound to be both occipital and cerebellar.
According
to Dr. Robert McClelland, "The
cause of death...[was] massive head injuries with
loss of large amounts of cerebral and cerebellar
tissues and massive blood loss." [ 20.
6 H 35.]
The
Parkland doctor most qualified to report on a head
wound and who apparently had an excellent view of
JFK's head injuries was Dr. Kemp Clark, Associate
Professor and Chairman of Neurosurgery: What did
Dr. Clark report? "There was a large wound beginning
in the right occiput extending into the parietal region."[21. CE
392] "Both
cerebral and cerebellar tissues were extruding from
the wound."[22.CE
392]
If the Parkland doctors made the statements attributed
to them by Gerald Posner, then they have significantly
altered their initial reports and testimony. Why would
medical professionals so alter their testimony as to
put their credibility into question, unless they had
capitulated to intense pressures?
