Historical assassinations
Jul. 4th, 2005 11:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xiphiasSomeone on my friends list just mentioned Dr. Charles Leale, the physician who was in the Ford Theater the night President Abraham Lincoln was shot. And it got me wondering, as I did some googling on the fellow, and read about the care he administered: which historical assassinations would have been survivable given the state of medicine that we have today?
Some are obvious: President James Garfield would have survived if he'd gotten NO medical care, and was killed by doctors who hadn't heard of washing their hands. I mean, Galen could have cured Garfield. Heck, if they'd taken him home, put him to bed, bandaged him up, and done nothing else, he probably would have made it.
On the other hand, I think President John F. Kennedy is pretty much a foregone conclusion, too. I don't think any medical care in the world today could save someone who had the back of their head blown off.
But what of President Lincoln? Reading the one article I read, I'm inclined to suspect that Dr. Leale did pretty close to everything a modern doctor could have done that might have made a difference: the bullet entered just behind the left ear. Maybe a top-notch neurosurgeon (the kind that does work at Walter Reed and would have worked on the President) could have done something, but it's hard to say -- head wounds are funny that way. Dr. Leale was a surgeon with the Union Army, and had extensive experience with bullet wounds, was with the President like within a minute of his being shot, got the President breathing on his own, but felt that the brain damage was mortal. He was with the President for nine hours, when Lincoln finally died.
I feel certain that modern medicine could have kept Lincoln "alive" for over nine hours -- but whether that would have made any ultimate difference depends on the nature of the head wound.
Some are obvious: President James Garfield would have survived if he'd gotten NO medical care, and was killed by doctors who hadn't heard of washing their hands. I mean, Galen could have cured Garfield. Heck, if they'd taken him home, put him to bed, bandaged him up, and done nothing else, he probably would have made it.
On the other hand, I think President John F. Kennedy is pretty much a foregone conclusion, too. I don't think any medical care in the world today could save someone who had the back of their head blown off.
But what of President Lincoln? Reading the one article I read, I'm inclined to suspect that Dr. Leale did pretty close to everything a modern doctor could have done that might have made a difference: the bullet entered just behind the left ear. Maybe a top-notch neurosurgeon (the kind that does work at Walter Reed and would have worked on the President) could have done something, but it's hard to say -- head wounds are funny that way. Dr. Leale was a surgeon with the Union Army, and had extensive experience with bullet wounds, was with the President like within a minute of his being shot, got the President breathing on his own, but felt that the brain damage was mortal. He was with the President for nine hours, when Lincoln finally died.
I feel certain that modern medicine could have kept Lincoln "alive" for over nine hours -- but whether that would have made any ultimate difference depends on the nature of the head wound.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
That might have been worse
Date: 2005-07-04 03:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-07-04 04:01 pm (UTC)Anyway, I concur that Kennedy and Lincoln would almost certainly not have survived even with modern medical care. Of course, if they'd had modern security measures, he would likely not have been shot in the first place, nor would Garfield, McKinley, or Kennedy.
Incidentally, McKinley would almost certainly have survived with modern medical care. He nearly pulled through with the medical care of 1901, after all.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-07-05 11:50 am (UTC)"The Assassins"
Date: 2005-07-05 12:46 pm (UTC)Re: "The Assassins"
Date: 2005-07-06 01:02 am (UTC)I think you meant to say "terrific" above :-)
I'll even quibble with saying it's one of his weirder efforts. I mean, we're talking about a man who's written musicals about the opening of Japan (Pacific Overtures), murderous barbers (Sweeney Todd), A reunion of former follies girls (Follies), and... um... whatever the heck Anyone Can Whistle was about (I wrote a paper in college where I tried to prove it was really about quantum mechanics, but I'm not sure that's really the case...).
I, personally, thought that Assassins was a brilliant work. I mean, "Everybody's got the right to be happy". And the recent revival had Dougie Howser! And the music... it's wonderful. I mean, yes, it's disturbing subject... but it really works as a musical in a way that's not intrinsically obvious.
Re: "The Assassins"
Date: 2005-07-06 01:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-07-08 08:49 pm (UTC)Yep, I agree that Leale did just about every effective thing that modern medicine could have done. He relieved the pressure on the brain, he administered surprisingly modern CPR (including mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and external cardiac massage), and he kept Lincoln comfortable. I was touched to read that Leale spent most of that nine hours holding the President's hand, so that if he had any residual consciousness he would know he was not alone while dying.
But I'd be willing to bet that Lincoln was comatous the whole time. Apparently his pupils were dilated by the time Leale got to him. I'm no neurologist, but that sounds pretty bad to me.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-07-08 11:41 pm (UTC)According to the one web site I saw, that's what Leale thought, too.