Dr. Carrico was the first Parkland physician to examine President Kennedy.
Upon arrival at the emergency room, President Kennedy had no pulse and exhibited symptoms of circulatory collapse due to a sudden and massive loss of blood.
(1) Initially the doctors observed blood and tissue oozing from the head wound. During the attempted resuscitation, infusion of blood and fluids caused profuse bleeding.
(2) When cardiac massage established synthetic circulation, Dr. Jenkins observed a great rush of blood from the skull with each compression of the chest.
(3)
These observations show the severity of the damage to the venous channels of Kennedy's skull and blood vessels in his brain. (4) The logical interference of this undisputed medical evidence is a true Zapruder film would show a great rush of blood from Kennedy's head with each post head shot beat of his heart. Without doubt, this unchallenged medical evidence proves that we see a sanitized version of the Zapruder film.
The WC dealt with the damning medical findings of the Parkland doctors in their habitual manner. They reported:
"Since the Dallas doctors directed all their efforts to controlling the massive bleeding caused by the head wound, and to reconstructing an airway to his lungs, the President remained on his back throughout his medical treatment at Parkland."
In reality, the Parkland doctors could not have done anything to control the massive bleeding, which had ceased by the time Kennedy arrived at the emergency room.
Source: Warren Commission Testimony
Mr. SPECTER - Who was the first doctor to reach President Kennedy on his arrival at Parkland Hospital?
Dr. CARRICO - I was.
Mr. SPECTER - And who else was with President Kennedy on his arrival, as best you can recollect it?
Dr. CARRICO - Mrs. Kennedy was there, .and there were some men in the room, who I assumed were Secret Service men; I don't know.
Mr. SPECTER - Can you identify any nurses who were present, in addition to Miss Bowron?
Dr. CARRICO - No, I don't recall any of them.
Mr. SPECTER - What did you observe as to the President's condition upon his arrival?
Dr. CARRICO - He was lying on a carriage, his respirations were slow, spasmodic, described as agonal.
Mr. SPECTER - What do you mean by "agonal" if I may interrupt you for just a moment there, Doctor?
Dr. CARRICO - These are respirations seen in one who has lost the normal coordinated central control of respiration. These are spasmodic and usually reflect a terminal patient.
Mr. SPECTER - Would you continue to describe your observations of the President?
Dr. CARRICO - His-- the President's color--I don't believe I said--he was an ashen, bluish, grey, cyanotic, he was making no spontaneous movements, I mean, no voluntary movements at all. We opened his shirt and coat and tie and observed a small wound in the anterior lower third of the neck, listened very briefly, heard a few cardiac beats, felt the President's back, and detected no large or sucking chest wounds, and then proceeded to the examination of his head. The large skull and scalp wound had been previously observed and was inspected a little more closely. There seemed to be a 4-5 cm. area of avulsion of the scalp and the skull was fragmented and bleeding cerebral and cerebellar tissue. The pupils were inspected and seemed to be bilaterally dilated and fixed. No pulse was present, and at that time, because of the inadequate respirations and the apparent airway injury, a cuffed endotracheal tube was introduced, employing a larynzo scope. Through the larynzo scope there seemed to be some hematoma around the larynx and immediately below the larynx was seen the ragged tracheal injury. The endotracheal tube was inserted past this injury, the cuff inflated, and the tube was connected to a respirator to assist the inadequate respiration. At about this point the nurse reported that no blood pressure was obtained.
Source: Warren Commission Report
Dr. Carrico noted two wounds: a small bullet wound in the front lower neck, and an extensive wound in the President's head where a sizable portion of the skull was missing. He observed shredded brain tissue and "considerable slow oozing" from the latter wound, followed by "more profuse bleeding" after some circulation was established.
Source: Warren Commission Testimony
Mr. SPECTER - Will you describe as precisely as you can the nature of the head wound?
Dr. JONES - There was large defect in the back side of the head as the President lay on the cart with what appeared to be some brain hanging out of this wound with multiple pieces of skull noted next with the brain and with a tremendous amount of clot and blood.
Source: Warren Commission Testimony
Mr. SPECTER - Now, will you now describe the wound which you observed in the head?
Dr. JENKINS - . . . Now, Dr. Clark had begun closed chest cardiac massage at this time and I was aware of the magnitude of the wound, because with each compression of the chest, there was a great rush of blood from the skull wound. . . .
Mr. SPECTER - May the record show that we are back on the record and Dr. Jenkins has made an interesting observation about the time of the declaration of death, and I will ask you, Dr. Jenkins, for you to repeat for the record what you have just said off the record.
Dr. JENKINS - As the resuscitative maneuvers were begun, such as "chest cardiac massage," there was with each compression of the sternum, a gush of blood from the skull wound, which indicated there was massive vascular damage in the skull and the brain, as well as brain tissue damage, and we recognized by this time that the patient was beyond the point of resuscitation, that he was in fact dead, and this was substantiated by getting a silent electrical pattern on the electrocardiogram, the cardioscope that was connected up.
Source: Warren Commission Testimony
Mr. SPECTER - Before proceeding to describe what you did in connection with the tracheostomy, will you more fully describe your observation with respect to the head wound?
Dr. McCLELLAND - . . . 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 - And what else did you state at the press conference at 2:30 on November 22?
Dr. CLARK - I stated that the President had lost considerable blood, that one of the contributing causes of death was this massive blood loss . . .
Mr. SPECTER - What was the cause of death in your opinion?
Dr. McCLELLAND - The cause of death, I would say, would be massive head injuries with loss of large amounts of cerebral and cerebellar tissues and massive blood loss.
Mr. SPECTER - Well, what questions were asked of you and what responses did you give at that press conference?
Dr. PERRY - . . . As regards the cause of death, Dr. Clark and I concurred that massive brain trauma with attendant severe hemorrhage was the underlying cause of death, . . .
Mr. SPECTER - Dr. Clark, in the line of your specialty, could you comment as to the status of the President with respect to competency, had he been able to survive the head injuries which you have described and the total wound which he had?
Dr. CLARK - This, of course, is a question of tremendous importance. Just let me state that the loss of cerebrellar tissue would probably have been of minimal consequence in the performance of his duties. The loss of the right occipital and probably part of the right parietal lobes would have been of specific importance. This would have led to a visual field deficit, which would have interfered in a major way with his ability to read, not the interpretation of reading matter per se, but the acquisition of information from the printed page. He would have had specific difficulty with finding the next line in a book or paper. This would have proven to be a specific handicap in getting information on which, as the President of the United States, he would have to act. How much damage he would have had to his motor system, that is, the ability to control or coordinate his left extremities, I would not know. This conceivably could have been a problem in enabling him to move about, to appear in public, et cetera. Finally, and probably most important, since the brain, far as at its higher levels, largely as a unit, the loss of this much brain tissue likely would have impaired his ability in abstract reasoning, imagination; whereas, the part of the President's brain struck is not that part specifically concerned with these matters. The effect of loss of considerable brain tissue does affect the total performance of the organ in these matters. There would be grave doubts in my mind as to our ability as physicians to give a clear answer regarding his ability to function as President of the United States. Our ability to judge this is sometimes sorely tried when dealing with people with considerably less intellectual and moral demands made upon them.
