The Defense department reports today that 9,765 soldiers have been wounded in action in Iraq. What’s not pointed out is that many of those soldiers might have died had it not been for the medics and the surgeons on the frontline.
Thanks to advances in battlefield medicine, soldiers today are surviving injuries that would have killed those in previous wars. With insurgents continuing their deadly attacks, and the number of those injured increasing, we look at the war from the perspective of doctors on the frontlines.
Guests:
Dr. Atul Gawande, general surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School, columnist for The New England Journal of Medicine, his most recent is: “Casualties of War: Military Care for the Wounded from Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Army Col. Stephen Hetz, General Surgeon who had command of the 3st Combat Support Hospital in Balad, Iraq.