skippy the bush kangaroo: Are Whittington's injuries being downplayed?

Monday, February 13, 2006

Are Whittington's injuries being downplayed?

Reddhedd at firedoglake has an excellent post detailing the many ways Dick Cheney violated all kinds of gun safety rules in his shooting of a 78-year-old Harry Whittington during a quail hunt.

Then there is also this comment that the astute reddhedd highlights from the medical professional Little Bit:

Shotgun injuries are some of the worst cases I have taken care of, due to the spread-shot nature of the wounds. If the victim got "peppered" in the neck, there are waaaayyyy too many important structures in that small space (oh, like maybe one of the internal or external carotid arteries) for this to be a "no big deal" situation. If any of the pellets nicks a blood vessel, it may travel as far as it can go--I took care of a kid shot in the chest and some pellets eneded up in his ankle, blocking the bloodflow, leading to an amputation. In this situation, add to that the victim's age and potential underlying medical problems--this is huge.

The media kept reporting that Whittington was alert, conscious and speaking as a sign the injuries were not severe. His being conscious and speaking proves nothing about the severity of his injuries. In my experience, people can be conscious and alert up to the moment they die. If that had happened in this case, would the American people have been told or would the White House covered it up?

posted by Carnacki at 1:05 PM |