RepresentativeFord. I was thinking, was there an official recording either made by the hospital officials or by the White House people or by any government agency?
Dr.Perry. Not to my knowledge.
RepresentativeFord. A true recording of everything that was said, the questions asked, and the answers given?
Dr.Perry. Not to my knowledge.
Mr.Dulles. Was there any reasonably good account in any of the press of this interview?
Dr.Perry. No, sir.
RepresentativeFord. May Iask——
Dr.Perry. I have failed to see one that was asked.
RepresentativeFord. In other words, you subsequently read or heard what was allegedly said by you and by Dr. Clark and Dr. Carrico. Were those reportings by the news media accurate or inaccurate as to what you and others said?
Dr.Perry. In general, they were inaccurate. There were some that were fairly close, but I, as you will probably surmise, was pretty full after both Friday and Sunday, and after the interviews again, following the operation of which I was a member on Sunday, I left town, and I did not read a lot of them, but of those which I saw I found none that portrayed it exactly as it happened. Nor did I find any that reported our statements exactly as they were given. They were frequently taken out of context. They were frequently mixed up as to who said what or identification as to which person was who.
RepresentativeFord. This interview took place on Sunday, the 24th, did you say?
Dr.Perry. No, there were several interviews, Mr. Ford. We had one in the afternoon, Friday afternoon, and then I spent almost the entire day Saturday in the administrative suite at the hospital answering questions to people of the press, and some medical people of the American Medical Association. And then, of course, Sunday, following the operation on Oswald, I again attended the press conference since I was the first in attendance with him. And, subsequently, there was another conference on Monday conducted by the American Medical Association, and a couple of more interviews with some people whom I don't even recall.
RepresentativeFord. Would you say that these errors that were reported were because of a lack of technical knowledge as to what you as a physician were saying, or others were saying?
Dr.Perry. Certainly that could be it in part, but it was not all. Certainly a part of it was lack of attention. A question would be asked and you would incompletely answer it and another question would be asked and they had gotten what they wanted without really understanding, and they would go on and it would go out of context. For example, on the speculation on the ultimate source of bullets, I obviously knew less about it than most people because I was in the hospital at the time and didn't know the circumstances surrounding it until it was over. I was much too busy and yet I was quoted as saying that the bullet, there was probably one bullet, which struck and deviated upward which came from the front, and what I had replied was to a question, was it conceivable that this could have happened, and I said yes, it is conceivable.
I have subsequently learned that to use a straight affirmative word like "yes" is not good relations; that one should say it is conceivable and not give a straight yes or no answer.
"It is conceivable" was dropped and the "yes" was used, and this was happening over and over again. Of course, Dr. Shires, for example, who was the professor and chairman of the department was identified in one press release as chief resident.
Mr.Dulles. As what? I didn't get it.
Dr.Perry. As chief resident. And myself, as his being my superior, whereas Dr. Ronald Jones was chief resident of course, nothing could be further from the truth in identifying Dr. Shires as chief resident. I was identified as a resident surgeon in the Dallas paper. And I am not impressed with the accuracy of the press reports.
Mr.McCloy. I don't know whether you have covered this very well. Let me ask you about the wound, the wound that you examined in the President's neck.
You said that it would have been tolerable. Would his speech have been impaired?
Dr.Perry. No, sir; I don't think so. The injury was below the larynx, and certainly barring the advent of any complication would have healed without any difficulty.
Mr.McCloy. He would have had a relatively normal life?
Dr.Perry. Yes, sir.
Mr.McCloy. Did you, any other time, or other than the press conference or any other period, say that you thought this was an exit wound?
Dr.Perry. No, sir; I did not.
Mr.McCloy. When the President was brought, when you first saw the President, was he fully clothed, or did you cut the clothing away?
Dr.Perry. Not at the time I saw him. Dr. Carrico and the nurses were all in attendance, they had removed his coat and his shirt, which is standard procedure, while we were proceeding about the examination, for them to do so.
Mr.McCloy. But you didn't actually remove his shirt?
Dr.Perry. No, sir; I did not.
Mr.McCloy. Did you get the doctor's experience with regard to gunshot wounds?
Mr.Specter. Yes, sir; I did.
Mr.McCloy. You said something to the effect that, of knowing the President had an adrenalin insufficiency, is that something you could observe?
Dr.Perry. This is common medical knowledge, sir, that he had had in the past necessarily taken adrenalin steroids to support this insufficiency. Dr. Carrico, at this moment of great stress, recalled this, and requested this be given to him at that time, this is extremely important because people who have adrenalin insufficiency are unable to mobilize this hormone at the time of any great stress and it may be fatal without support from exogenous drugs.
Mr.McCloy. In other words, you had a general medical history of the President before he was—common knowledge.
Dr.Perry. No more so than anyone else, sir, except this would have stuck with us, sir, since they were already in that line.
Mr.McCloy. Did you discuss with any of the other doctors present, and you named quite a number of them, as to whether this was an exit wound or an entrance wound?
Dr.Perry. Yes, sir; we did at the time. But our discussion was necessarily limited by the fact that none of us knew, someone asked me now—you must remember that actually the only people who saw this wound for sure were Dr. Carrico and myself, and some of the other doctors were quoted as saying something about the wound which actually they never said at all because they never saw it, because on their arrival I had already made the incision through the wound, and despite what the press releases may have said neither Dr. Carrico nor myself could say whether it was an entrance or an exit wound from the nature of the wound itself and Dr. McClelland was quoted, for example, as saying he thought it was an exit wound, but that was not what he said at all because he didn't even see it.
Mr.McCloy. And it is a fact, is it not, that you did not see what we now are supposed to believe was the entrance wound?
Dr.Perry. No, sir; we did not examine him. At that time, we attended to the matters of expediency that were life-saving and the securing of an adequate airway and the stanching of massive hemorrhage are really the two medical emergencies; most everything else can wait, but those must be attended to in a matter of minutes and consequently to termination of treatment I had no morbid curiosity, my work was done, and actually I was rather anxious to leave.
Mr.McCloy. That is all.
Mr.Specter. Yes.
(Discussion off the record.)
Mr.Dulles. I suggest, Mr. Specter, if you feel it is feasible, you send to the doctor the accounts of his press conference or conferences.
And possibly, if you are willing, sir, you could send us a letter, send to the Commission a letter, pointing out the various points in these press conferences where you are inaccurately quoted, so we can have that as a matter of record.
Is that feasible?
Dr.Perry. That is, sir.
Would you prefer that each clipping be edited individually or a general statement?
Mr.Dulles. Well, I think it would be better to have each clipping dealt with separately. Obviously, if you have answered one point in one clipping it won't be necessary to answer that point if it is repeated in another clipping.
Dr.Perry. Yes, sir.
Mr.Dulles. Just deal with the new points.
Dr.Perry. I can and will do this.
RepresentativeFord. This would be where Dr. Perry is quoted himself, or Dr. Carrico, or anyone else, they would only pass judgment on the quotes concerning themselves.
Mr.Dulles. That would be correct.
Dr.Perry. Yes, because some of the other circumstances in some of the press releases which have come to my attention have not been entirely accurate either, regarding sequence of events, and although I would not have knowledge about those you would not want those added necessarily, just any statement alluded to have been made by me.
Mr.Dulles. I think that would be better.
Don't you think so, Mr. Chairman?
RepresentativeFord. I think it would be the proper procedure.
Is this a monumental job, Mr. Specter?
Mr.Specter. No, I think it is one which can be managed, Congressman Ford. I might say we have done that with some of the clippings.
There was an article, as the deposition records will show when you have an opportunity to review them, they have not been transcribed, as to an article which appeared in La Expres, statements were attributed to Dr.McClelland——
Mr.Dulles. Which paper?
Mr.Specter. A French paper, La Expres. And I questioned the doctors quoted therein and developed for the record what was true and what was false on the statements attributed to them, so we have undertaken that in some circles but not as extensively as you suggest as to Dr. Perry, because we have been trying diligently to get the tape records of the television interviews, and we were unsuccessful. I discussed this with Dr. Perry in Dallas last Wednesday, and he expressed an interest in seeing them, and I told him we would make them available to him prior to his appearance, before deposition or before the Commission, except our efforts at CBS and NBC, ABC and everywhere including New York, Dallas and other cities were to no avail.
The problem is they have not yet cataloged all of the footage which they have, and I have been advised by the Secret Service, by Agent John Howlett, that they have an excess of 200 hours of transcripts among all of the events and they just have not cataloged them and could not make them available.
Mr.Dulles. Do you intend to catalog them?
Mr.Specter. Yes, they do, Mr. Dulles. They intend to do that eventually in their normal process, and the Secret Service is trying to expedite the news media to give us those, and it was our thought as to the film clips, which would be the most direct or the recordings which would be the most direct, to make comparisons between the reports in the news media and what Dr. Perry said at that time, and the facts which we have from the doctors through our depositions and transcript today.
RepresentativeFord. Can you give us any time estimate when this catalog and comparison might be made?
Mr.Specter. Only that they are working on it right now, have been for some time, but it may be a matter of a couple of weeks until they can turn it over.
(Discussion off the record.)
Mr.McCloy. Mr. Chairman, I have some doubt as to the present propriety of making, of having the doctor make, comments in respect to a particular group of newspaper articles. There have been comments, as we all know, around the world, of great variety and great extent, and it would be practically impossible, I suppose, to check all of the accounts and in failing to check one would not wish to have it suggested that others, the accuracy of others was being endorsed.
I would suggest that the staff make an examination of the files that we have of the comments, together with such tape recordings as may have been taken of the actual press conferences, and after that examination is made we can then determine, perhaps a little more effectively, what might be done to clarify thissituation so that it would conform to the actual statements that the doctor has made.
Mr.Dulles. Well, Mr. McCloy, it is quite satisfactory with me and I agree with you we cannot run down all of the rumors in all of the press and it is quite satisfactory with me to wait and see whether we have adequate information to deal with this situation when we get in the complete tapes of the various television, radio and other appearances, so that we have a pretty complete record of what these two witnesses and others have said on the points we have been discussing here today.
So I quite agree we will await this presentation to the doctors until we have had a further chance to review this situation.
What I wanted to be sure was that when we are through with this we do have in our files and records adequate information to deal with a great many of the false rumors that have been spread on the basis of false interpretation of these appearances before television, radio, and so forth and so on.
RepresentativeFord. Is that all, Mr. Dulles, and Mr. McCloy?
Mr.Dulles. Yes.
Mr.McCloy. May I ask at this point, did you examine Governor Connally, too?
Dr.Perry. I was in the operating room briefly to see about his leg.
Mr.McCloy. You haven't come to that point in your interrogation.
Mr.Specter. I did not.
Mr.McCloy. I understood you to say you did examine Oswald.
Dr.Perry. Yes, sir; I operated on Oswald.
Mr.Specter. Have you now described in general the press conferences in which you participated immediately after the treatment which you rendered to President Kennedy and following the treatment which you assisted in rendering to Mr. Oswald?
Dr.Perry. To the best of my knowledge.
Mr.Specter. And did you make an effort to leave the area of Dallas immediately following the Monday after the weekend of the assassination and the killing of Oswald in an effort to get away from the press conferences?
Dr.Perry. I left Monday afternoon approximately 3 o'clock.
Mr.Specter. Where did you go?
Dr.Perry. I went to McAllen, Tex., to the home of my mother-in-law.
Mr.Specter. And how far is that from Dallas?
Dr.Perry. About 560 miles.
Mr.Specter. Did you leave instructions as to revealing the destination that you set upon?
Dr.Perry. No, only with Dr. Shires and my secretary.
Mr.Specter. And were you contacted by the press in McAllen?
Dr.Perry. The following day.
Mr.Specter. And were your whereabouts given either by Dr. Shires or your secretary?
Dr.Perry. No, it was not.
Mr.Specter. Will you relate briefly the sequence that followed in McAllen, Tex.
Dr.Perry. The gentleman from UPI came out and knocked on the door, and I was quite surprised, not having told anyone where I was going, and I asked him if he would mind telling me how he found out how I was there, and looking back at it I was kind of naive, I went to a relative and told no one else. He had a wire in his hands which he showed me indicating it had come from the Dallas office, naming the place where I was, and the exact address, and who I was staying with.
Mr.Specter. Did he ask to take pictures of you?
Dr.Perry. He did.
Mr.Specter. What was your response?
Dr.Perry. This was denied.
Mr.Specter. And did he ask you questions?
Dr.Perry. He did, essentially the same questions which I have reiterated as to the emergency treatment that was undertaken. He did not press the point as to the number of bullets or anything of that, and I told him I had no knowledgeof that. He only asked about the emergency measures I had taken and I related them to him as I have to you.
Mr.Specter. Subsequently, did an article appear about you in the Saturday Evening Post?
Dr.Perry. It did.
Mr.Specter. Would you outline briefly the circumstances surrounding the appearance of that article as you felt them to be?
Dr.Perry. We were contacted, not I directly but Dr. Shires, by the medical editor of the Saturday Evening Post, this was all related to me by Dr. Shires, in regard to a possible story. This was declined, since Dr. Shires and those of us in the department felt that the news value was gone and this was commercialism, and they told Dr. Shires, I am told, that they would not print anything.
However, an article appearing under a New York Herald Tribune uncopyrighted by-line apparently was subsequently acquired by them and published.
Mr.Specter. And was that article accurate, inaccurate, or what was the level of accuracy of the contents thereof?
Dr.Perry. The level of accuracy was not very good at all. It was overly dramatic, garish and in poor taste, and ethically damaging to me.
Mr.Specter. In what way was it ethically damaging to you, Dr. Perry?
Dr.Perry. As you know, it is our policy that the physician's name in the treatment of any patient be essentially kept quiet. There are unusual circumstances surrounding this one, of course, and our names were made public. But this mentions my name freely, published a photograph that apparently was taken of me at the press conference and had previously appeared in a newspaper, and a picture of the emergency room, trauma room No. 1, and although most of the people in the medical profession, I have subsequently been assured by the Society of Surgeons and AMA, that they realize I had no part in it, which is obvious to them because of the gross inaccuracies. Nonetheless it is harmful to me as a member of the faculty of the medical school to have such an article in print.
Mr.Specter. Dr. Perry, did you have occasion to discuss your observations with Comdr. James J. Humes of the Bethesda Naval Hospital?
Dr.Perry. Yes, sir; I did.
Mr.Specter. When did that conversation occur?
Dr.Perry. My knowledge as to the exact accuracy of it is obviously in doubt. I was under the initial impression that I talked to him on Friday, but I understand it was on Saturday. I didn't recall exactly when.
Mr.Specter. Do you have an independent recollection at this moment as to whether it was on Friday or Saturday?
Dr.Perry. No, sir; I have thought about it again and the events surrounding that weekend were very kaleidoscopic, and I talked with Dr. Humes on two occasions, separated by a very short interval of, I think it was, 30 minutes or an hour or so, it could have been a little longer.
Mr.Specter. What was the medium of your conversation?
Dr.Perry. Over the telephone.
Mr.Specter. Did he identify himself to you as Dr. Humes of Bethesda?
Dr.Perry. He did.
Mr.Specter. Would you state as specifically as you can recollect the conversation that you first had with him?
Dr.Perry. He advised me that he could not discuss with me the findings of necropsy, that he had a few questions he would like to clarify. The initial phone call was in relation to my doing a tracheotomy. Since I had made the incision directly through the wound in the neck, it made it difficult for them to ascertain the exact nature of this wound. Of course, that did not occur to me at the time. I did what appeared to me to be medically expedient. And when I informed him that there was a wound there and I suspected an underlying wound of the trachea and even perhaps of the great vessels he advised me that he thought this action was correct and he said he could not relate to me any of the other findings.
Mr.Specter. Would you relate to me in lay language what necropsy is?
Dr.Perry. Autopsy, postmortem examination.
Mr.Specter. What was the content of the second conversation which you had with Comdr. Humes, please?
Dr.Perry. The second conversation was in regard to the placement of the chest tubes for drainage of the chest cavity. And I related to him, as I have to you, the indications that prompted me to advise that this be done at that time.
Mr.Specter. Dr. Perry, did you observe any bruising of the neck muscles of President Kennedy when you were engaged in your operative procedure that you have described?
Dr.Perry. This bruising, as you describe, would have been obscured by the fact that there was a large amount of blood, hematoma, present in the neck and the mediastinum and hence all the blood tissues were covered by this blood.
Mr.Specter. A few moments ago in response to a question by Mr. McCloy I believe you commented that, as you recollected it, very few of the doctors would have had an opportunity to observe the hole in the President's neck and I think you said that only you and Dr. Carrico would have had such an opportunity. Can you state, with absolute certainty, at which point the various doctors arrived in the room? And bear in mind on this that while you have not had the opportunity to review the depositions, some of the other doctors have expressed the view that they have had an opportunity to see the wound. Specifically, Dr. M. T. Jenkins said in a deposition that he did see the wound, and I have not had an opportunity to ask you that question before, because you made the comment during the course of the testimony today.
But I would like your comment on, in your opinion, whether the other doctors would have had an opportunity, perhaps, to observe the neck wound prior to the tracheotomy?
Dr.Perry. Since I don't know with accuracy the exact times of their arrival, it is conceivable that others could have seen it. And Dr. Jenkins was apparently one of the early arrivals in the room.
However, at the time that I arrived, as I related, Dr. Carrico was present and Dr. Jones and I. Dr. Jones immediately directed himself toward obtaining another intravenous infusion, and I immediately went to the neck wound. At the time of arrival of the other surgeons which assisted me in the operation, I had already made the incision.
Dr. Jenkins could have arrived at the time that I was preparing to make the incision and seen the wound. It is possible, I don't know when he came in the room. I know he did not examine the wound per se.
Mr.Specter. And similarly Dr. Jones has commented in the course of his deposition about the situation with respect to the wound in the neck.
Based on your observations, would it be consistent with what you know to be fact that he had an opportunity to examine the neck wound?
Dr.Perry. I know he might have seen it because he and I entered the room simultaneously, we came down together. To my knowledge, he did not examine the wound although he might have noted the wound present as I went to work.
Mr.Specter. Specifically what did he do then as you went to work?
Dr.Perry. He was standing immediately on my left at that point, doing a venesection, a cut down in the left arm for the administration of fluids so he was able to observe the performance of the tracheotomy.
Mr.Specter. In your opinion, Dr. Perry, was President Kennedy alive or dead on arrival at Parkland?
Dr.Perry. The President was alive in that spontaneous ineffective respiratory motions were observed by me, and although I never detected a pulse or a heartbeat, I was told there was also electrical activity on the cardiotachyscope when it was initially attached indicating there was spontaneous activity of the heart.
He was, therefore alive for medical purposes.
Mr.Specter. Who told you about the electrical activity on the cardiotachyscope?
Dr.Perry. Dr. Clark.
Mr.Specter. Was any bullet found by you or by any other doctor at Parkland in the President's body?
Dr.Perry. I found none. To the best of my knowledge neither did anyone else.
Mr.Specter. Was the President ever turned over at any time?
Dr.Perry. Not by me nor did I see it done.
Mr.Specter. Were you present as long as any other doctor was present in the emergency room?
Dr.Perry. No, sir; I think that at the time that I left trauma room number one, I went outside, and washed my hands, and I opened the door briefly to retrieve my coat which I had left there on the floor and the nurse handed me my coat.
At that time as I recall Doctor Jenkins was still in the room and there were several other people there including Mrs. Kennedy and the priest, and some gentlemen whom I did not know.
Mr.Specter. Now, did you make any effort to examine the clothing of President Kennedy?.
Dr.Perry. I did not.
(At this point, Representative Boggs entered the hearing room.)
Mr.Specter. Why was it, Dr. Perry, that there was no effort made to examine the clothing of President Kennedy and no effort to turn him over and examine the back of the President?
Dr.Perry. At the termination of the procedure and after we had determined that Mr. Kennedy had expired, I cannot speak for the others but as for myself, my work was done. I fought a losing battle, and I actually obviously, having seen a lot of wounds, had no morbid curiosity, and actually was rather anxious to leave the room. I had nothing further to offer.
Mr.Specter. With the President having been declared dead, did you consider it was your function to make any further exploration of the President's body?
Dr.Perry. This is not my function or my prerogative. This would be undertaken by suitable authorities at the time of postmortem, people with experience superior to mine in determining things of this sort.
Mr.Specter. Where was Mrs. Kennedy, if you know, during the course of the treatment which you have described that you performed?
Dr.Perry. I had the initial impression she was in the room most of the time although I have been corrected on this. When I entered the room she was standing by the door, rather kneeling by the door, and someone was standing there beside her. I saw her several times during the course of the resuscitative measures, when I would look up from the operative field to secure an instrument from the nearby tray.
Mr.Dulles. Under your procedure who had the responsibility for declaring that the President was dead?
Dr.Perry. This was a combination of factors, Mr. Dulles, undertaken by those of us all in attendance, by Dr. Clark and Dr. Jenkins and myself particularly since we were the senior people there.
I was informed subsequently that Mrs. Kennedy left the room several times to just outside the door but returned although as I say, I saw her several times in the room. I did not speak to her nor she to me so I do not have any knowledge as to exactly what she was doing.
Mr.Specter. Did you observe any wound in the President's chest?
Dr.Perry. I did not.
Mr.Specter. Did you observe any wound on the left side of the President's head?
Dr.Perry. No, sir.
Mr.Specter. Have you heretofore during the course of your testimony today described all of the wounds in the President which you have observed?
Dr.Perry. I have.
Mr.Specter. Were you and the other doctors affected, in your opinion, in your treatment of the President by virtue of the fact that he was the President of the United States?
Dr.Perry. Yes, sir; I am sure that is true. At the time that I was going down the stairs to the emergency room I was, of course, quite concerned, notknowing any of the circumstances surrounding the incident nor in what condition I would find him, and at the time that I entered the room, and it was my initial impression that he had a mortal wound.
At that point I directed myself to doing that which I could do and, of course, the time then became quite compressed during the course of the procedures and it was really not until afterwards that the full impact of what had happened began to hit me.
Mr.Specter. Did you have any occasion to render any treatment to Governor Connally at Parkland Hospital?
Dr.Perry. I saw the Governor in regard to the consultation in regard to the injury to his leg. As I related earlier I am consultant in vascular surgery to the hospital, and the estimated course of the missile in his leg presupposed that he might have an injury to his femoral artery or vein and Dr. Shires asked me if I would put on a scrub suit and come to the operating room to assist in case it was necessary to do some arterial surgery.
It was not, however, so I did not operate.
Mr.Specter. At what time approximately did you arrive at the operating room where Governor Connally was being cared for?
Dr.Perry. I don't know, sir.
Mr.Specter. Was it during the course of the operation performed by Dr. Shires?
Dr.Perry. Yes, At that time I was there during the time Dr. Shires was there and Dr. Gregory was also operating on the arm at that point. Dr. Shaw had completed his portion of the procedure.
Mr.Specter. That would have been after the press conference had been completed?
Dr.Perry. Yes, sir.
Mr.Specter. Did you have occasion to render medical aid to Lee Harvey Oswald on November 24?
Dr.Perry. I did.
Mr.McCloy. Before you get to that may I get clear, Dr. Shires and Dr. Gregory were in attendance?
Mr.Specter. Dr. Shaw in addition.
Dr.Perry. Yes, and Shaw.
Mr.McCloy. Shaw, Shires and Gregory?
DoctorPerry. S-h-i-r-e-s.
RepresentativeBoggs. Before you get to Oswald may I ask one question? I am sure the doctor covered it. You said the minute you saw the President you felt he had suffered a mortal wound?
Dr.Perry. Yes, sir.
RepresentativeBoggs. You saw the wound immediately then?
Dr.Perry. Well, I saw his condition immediately, and as you are aware, I have attended a lot of people with severe injuries.
RepresentativeBoggs. Surely.
Dr.Perry. And he obviously was in extremis when I walked in the room. And then I noted very cursorily the wound in the head and it was obvious that this was an extremely serious wound.
RepresentativeBoggs. Was he still alive when you saw him?
Dr.Perry. He was.
RepresentativeBoggs. That is all.
RepresentativeFord. May I ask, Mr. Specter, during the total time that you were examining and treating the President, how much of his exposed body did you see?
Dr.Perry. The upper trunk predominantly, Congressman Ford. His chest, and, of course, his arms were bare, neck and head. I did not examine any other portions of his body nor did I see any other portions except briefly when I felt for the femoral pulse on the left side.
RepresentativeFord. From the waist on up the front?
Dr.Perry. Yes, sir.
Mr.Specter. Would you describe the treatment rendered to Mr. Oswald at Parkland Memorial Hospital by yourself and by others as you observed it?
Dr.Perry. At the time I saw—starting with when I was called?
Mr.Specter. Yes.
Dr.Perry. Well, I went immediately to the emergency room again, Dr. Jones and I who also was in the hospital again, and told me that I was the only attending surgeon present, and that they were bringing Mr. Oswald out, and I was in the surgery suite and I went directly to the emergency room just as he was being brought indoors.
Mr.Specter. At approximately what time was that?
Dr.Perry. I really don't know, sir. It was about 11:15 or so when I was up in surgery. I had been seeing a baby in regard to an operation we had scheduled at 1 o'clock and then Dr. Jones came after me.
Mr.Specter. How long did it take you approximately to travel from the point where you received the notice that he was en route until your arrival at the emergency room?
Dr.Perry. No more than 2 or 3 minutes.
Mr.Specter. And you say you arrived there simultaneously with Mr. Oswald?
Dr.Perry. Just as he came in.
Mr.Specter. Precisely where in the hospital was it where you met Mr. Oswald?
Dr.Perry. He was brought into the emergency room, trauma room number two, and as they wheeled him in I came around the corner.
Mr.Specter. What action did you take with respect to Mr. Oswald?
Dr.Perry. Well, there were numerous people in attendance, more so than on the previous incident on Friday. He also obviously was quite seriously injured. He was cyanotic, very blue and although he also was attempting respirations, they were not effective, and an endotracheal tube was placed in him by one of the anesthesiologists, I think Dr. Jenkins, and I examined his chest and noted the entrance point of the bullet wound on the left side and I could feel the bullet just under the skin on the right side, right rear margin, indicating the bullet had passed entirely through his body and come to rest under the skin.
Mr.Specter. Where through his body?
Dr.Perry. I beg your pardon sir, the bullet entered approximately the midaxillary line at about the 9th or 10th interspace on the left side of the chest cage, and came to rest just under the rib margin on the right side under the skin.
Mr.Specter. Could you supply in lay language what cyanotic means?
Dr.Perry. Blue from lack of oxygen.
Mr.Specter. Could you explain in lay language the midaxillary line?
Dr.Perry. It is about the mid portion of the fold extending down from the armpit on the left. This is just rough because I glanced at that briefly and determined the nature of the path of the bullet and from looking at him it was obvious that this had traversed major structures in his body in order to reach that particular place, so while a cutdown was being done again to administer fluid, I asked someone to put in a left chest tube on him because it appeared it went in and I recalled surgery until they were bringing him directly up.
Dr. Tom Shires, Chief of the Surgical Services, came into the door at a point and Dr. McClelland, and we left and went to surgery to change clothes and they brought him from there immediately to surgery and we proceeded with the operation.
Mr.Specter. Who was present, if anyone, with Mr. Oswald at the time you arrived there?
Dr.Perry. In the emergency room?
Mr.Specter. Yes.
Dr.Perry. Dr. Jenkins was there, Dr. M. T. Jenkins, Chief of Anesthesiology.
I think Dr. Giesecke was also there again, although I am not sure of that. I saw Dr. Risk who is a resident in urology and I saw Dr. Dulany who is a resident in surgery. Dr. Boland, I believe who is a resident in thoracic surgery and, of course, Dr. Jones and myself, and there were several other people, the nurses, I don't recall.
Mr.Specter. Will you describe briefly the physical layout utilized in takingMr. Oswald from trauma room number two which you have already described up to the operating room?
Dr.Perry. We have an express elevator that connects delivery room, operating room, emergency room and it is approximately 20 yards from trauma room two, I would estimate, just around the corner, in an even corridor and although I was not there as they took him up, I was in the operating room preparing and scrubbing, he was wheeled directly there to the express elevator and taken to the second floor where the operating suites are.
Mr.Specter. Approximately how long does it take to get a patient from the trauma room up to the operating room?
Dr.Perry. It depends on a lot of factors. One is if the elevator is there or not or if it happens to be in surgery or in the delivery room. But I have on occasion where it was necessary that you must go with all dispatch to the operating room, have done it in a matter of a few minutes.
They brought him right in the door, placed him on the elevator with a finger controlling the hemorrhage where you could take him directly to the operating room. I have done that in a matter, I am sure, of less than 3 or 4 minutes if I had to.
Mr.Specter. Approximately how long did it take to get Oswald from trauma room two to the operating room?
Dr.Perry. I don't know, I was told subsequently it was 12 minutes from the time we had him up.And——
RepresentativeBoggs. How long was it from the time he was shot until he reached the hospital?
Dr.Perry. I have no knowledge of that, sir.
RepresentativeBoggs. Do you know?
Mr.Specter. No; I don't know.
Mr.Dulles. Was he conscious at any time so far as you know?
Dr.Perry. No, sir; he did not say a word.
Mr.Dulles. He was not conscious?
Dr.Perry. No, sir; and even had he been, of course, once we had the endotracheal tube in he could not have spoken.
Mr.Specter. Who was in charge of the operation performed on Mr. Oswald?
Dr.Perry. Dr. Tom Shires.
Mr.Specter. Who was in assistance with Dr. Shires?
Dr.Perry. I first assisted Dr. Shires and then Ronald Jones and Dr. McClelland were also at the operation.
Mr.Specter. Will you describe the operative procedures employed on Mr. Oswald please?
Dr.Perry. Yes. From the nature of the trajectory of the wound and the nature of the path of the bullet on the other side it was obvious that it had traversed major vessels, the aorta and vena cava. The aorta and vena cava, the heart area, and then a midline incision was made. A rapid prep with iodine was done, the patient was draped. An incision was carried rapidly into the abdominal cavity at which time we noticed approximately 3 litres of free blood which is an excess of three quarts. This was removed by suction, lap packs and by just moving it out in the form of clots with the hands. It was noted there was considerable bleeding appearing in both the right upper and left upper quadrants of the body. There was a large hematoma retroperitoneally in the midline also, causing the bowels to be pushed forward rather strikingly.
We immediately dissected over the portal vein on the right since it was apparently injured, and placed a vascular occlusive clamp of the Sittinsky type in this area to control the bleeding. Noted an injury to the right kidney and to the lobe of the liver. We also noted there was an injury to the stomach, the pancreas, the spleen. At that point it became apparent that he had indeed struck major vessels, and appeared to be the aorta, so the left colon was reflected very rapidly in order to allow us to enter the space behind the intestines, the retroperitoneal space, and at that point I controlled the bleeding from the aorta by finger pressure below and above this area.
The bullet had knocked the superior mesenteric artery completely off the aorta exposing a large area.
After I had controlled the bleeding Dr. Shires was able to dissect around thearea sufficient to allow us to gain control of the aorta, superior mesenteric artery and the vena cava and the placement of vascular clamps across these vessels in order to stop the hemmorhage.
At this point, he was being given blood and, of course, the suitable anesthesia measures which were oxygen under pressure. He did not require an anesthetic agent, I am told.
Mr.Specter. Who told you that, Dr. Perry?
Dr.Perry. I think one of the residents did, one of the anesthesia residents. We at that point had restored his blood pressure. I don't know the exact recordings, but I was told subsequently it had returned to near normal levels since we had the bleeding controlled.
Mr.Specter. What was the situation with respect to his respiration at that time?
Dr.Perry. It was being assisted and controlled, of course, by anesthesiology. This was no problem. We had a tube in place and was breathing for him so he had no problem with respiration. This was completely under control of anesthesia. The blood pressure was controlled and we stopped for a moment to determine how we would best go about repairing the structures and which would have priority, all the bleeding had stopped but, as I recall, the clamping of the aorta at the level of the superior mesenteric artery means, of course, that you must prevent blood from entering the kidneys, and this in itself can be hazardous if extended, and therefore we decided this must be repaired immediately in order to restore blood into the kidneys and the lower portion of the body.
Then Dr. Jenkins informed me and Dr. Shires that his cardiac action was becoming weak, and I don't remember all the details surrounding the medications and the things that were done at this particular time, but he developed a backward cardiac failure, his heart slowed abruptly and the blood pressure fell again and it was apparent the tremendous blood loss he had had set the stage for irreversible shock and lack of pumping action from the heart although he was being given massive transfusions, I don't know the exact number, probably he had 10 or 12 units. I believe it is in the record.
At this point when they told me a cardiac arrest had occurred as a result of the hemorrhage and blood loss I took a knife and opened the left chest in the fourth interspace and reached in to massage his heart, and the heart was flabby, and dilated, and apparently contained very little blood.
I began to massage the heart, to maintain it as we infused the blood and was able to obtain a palpable pulse in the carotid vessels going to the neck and into the head. We were unable to get the heart to go, and it began to fibrillate which is an uncoordinated motion of the muscles of the heart itself and the successive electrical shocks were applied with the defibrillator and to stimulate heart action, and we failed in this and the cardiac pacemaker was sewn in place, and it was handed to me by the thoracic surgery resident, and I sewed it into the heart to artificially induce heart action, this also was without benefit.
We were never able to restore effective heart action and then Dr. Jenkins informed as neurologically he was not responding, that his reflexes were gone, and he felt that he had expired.
Mr.Specter. At approximately what time did that occur?
Dr.Perry. I don't know, Mr. Specter, I would have to look at the record.
Mr.Specter. At approximately how long after he arrived at the hospital did that occur?
Dr.Perry. I don't know that, either.
Mr.Specter. Can you approximate the length of time of the operation itself?
Dr.Perry. 45 minutes or so, I would say.
Mr.Specter. Is there any question but that he was alive during the course of your operative procedures?
Dr.Perry. Oh, no, no question. The fact is we were very close, I think, to winning the battle. We have seen injuries of this magnitude, they rarely survive, this is a very serious injury and to the best of my knowledge I have not seen anyone with this particular set of injuries survive. But at one point once we controlled the hemorrhage and once I had control of the aorta and wasable to stop the bleeding of that area I actually felt we had a very good chance since everything had proceeded with expediency.
Mr.Specter. Have you been interviewed by any representative of the Federal Government in connection with your treatment of President Kennedy, Dr. Perry?
Dr.Perry. Yes, I have.
Mr.Specter. By whom were you interviewed?
Dr.Perry. I regret that I do not recall their names. I was interviewed by two gentlemen from the Secret Service approximately the following week, as I recall, and again about a month ago.
Mr.Specter. And what questions were asked of you on the first interview by the Secret Service?
Dr.Perry. Essentially in regard to the treatment and once again speculation as to where the bullets might have originated and what the nature of the wounds were and I was unable to supply them with any adequate information.
Mr.Specter. Were the responses given by you to the Secret Service on that first interview essentially the same as you have given today?
Dr.Perry. With minor variations in wording, they are essentially the same.
Mr.Specter. Approximately when did the second interview occur with the Secret Service?
Dr.Perry. I think approximately a month ago, although I am not sure of that.
Mr.Specter. What was the content of that interview?
Dr.Perry. A gentleman identified himself as being connected with the Warren Commission and Secret Service. I asked for his credentials which he duly supplied and he asked me in regard to any further information I might have pertaining to the events of that weekend, and we reiterated some of these statements which I made previously, and since I had nothing more to add, why it was terminated.
Mr.Specter. Did you supply any information which was in any way different from that which you have testified to here today?
Dr.Perry. In essence; no, sir.
Mr.Specter. On the second interview, did the man identify himself to you as a Secret Service agent who was conducting a further inquiry at the request of the President's Commission?
Dr.Perry. Yes, sir; he said he was with the Warren Commission.
Mr.Specter. Did I discuss the facts within your knowledge or take your deposition in Dallas on Wednesday, March 25, 1964?
Dr.Perry. Yes.
Mr.Specter. And was the information which you provided at that time in advance of the deposition and during the course of the deposition itself the same as the information which you provided here today concerning the treatment of President Kennedy, your observations and opinions on President Kennedy?
Dr.Perry. It is.
Mr.Specter. Have I made that transcript available to you this morning before we started this testimony?
Dr.Perry. Yes.
Mr.Specter. Have you at any time changed any opinion which you held concerning any matter relating to President Kennedy?
Dr.Perry. No, sir.
Mr.Specter. Did you prepare a handwritten report on your care of President Kennedy which became part of the record of Parkland Hospital?
Dr.Perry. I did.
Mr.Specter. Which you identified during the course of the deposition proceeding as being your report?
Dr.Perry. Yes, that is correct.
Mr.Specter. Do you have any other notes of your own relating to any of the matters which you testified here today?
Dr.Perry. None.
Mr.McCloy. What was the condition of, general physical condition, apart from the wounds, of Oswald, as you observed him? Was his body healthy?
Dr.Perry. I made only a very cursory examination, Mr. McCloy. He appeared rather thin to me.
Mr.McCloy. Not, you wouldn't call him a muscular type?
Dr.Perry. No, he would be what we would describe as a thinnish individual, that is very thin; was wiry rather than bulky muscles.
Mr.McCloy. Were there any signs that you observed cursorily, symptoms of any prior disease?
Dr.Perry. No, I did not look for those.
Mr.Dulles. No distinguishing marks on the body that you saw, prior operations?
Dr.Perry. No, sir; I did not look. There was no evidence of previous surgical operation on his abdomen, and I didn't examine anything else.
Of course, this also can be missed unless you are looking for it. We went through the midline and unless one went looking for it we did not have time and we would not see it.
Mr.Specter. Dr. Perry, was the chest tube inserted in the President's chest abandoned or was that operation or operative procedure completed?
Dr.Perry. The chest tube, to be placed there, was supposedly placed into the pleural cavity. However, I have knowledge that it was not.
Mr.Specter. And what was the reason for its not being placed into the pleural cavity?
Dr.Perry. I did not speak with certainty but at that point I think that we were at the end of the procedure and they just did not continue with it.
Mr.Specter. Had it become apparent at that time that the President expired?
Dr.Perry. That, I think, is probably true, but I did not state that with certainty because I cannot state the exact sequence. I was employed myself at the time, and I think if it had been determined that this was not in, it would have been completed, if there was still time, but I am not sure of that. That is speculation.
Mr.Specter. With respect to the condition of the neck wounds, was it ragged or pushed out in any manner?
Dr.Perry. No, it was not. As I originally described it, the edges were neither cleancut, that is punched out, nor were they very ragged. I realize that is not a very specific description but it is in between those two areas.
Mr.Specter. Was there blood in that area which tended to obscure your view?
Dr.Perry. It was exuding blood during that procedure and thus I did not examine it very closely. In retrospect, I think it would have been of much more value had I looked at these things more carefully but I had directed my attention to other things.
Mr.Specter. Those complete my questions.
RepresentativeFord. Mr. McCloy?
Mr. Dulles?
Have you examined the autopsy report made by the officials in Bethesda?
Dr.Perry. Yes, sir, I have.
RepresentativeFord. Does your testimony conform to the facts stated in that report?
Dr.Perry. I think so. At the time the testimony which I have given here of my knowledge without the—was given the same as it was without the basis of that report. But now having had access to that report, I think it ties in very nicely. I see no discrepancies at all. For example, had I known that he had these other two wounds, it would have been much easier at the time to state a little more categorically about the trajectory of the missiles, but not knowing about those I could only speculate.
RepresentativeFord. There is no basic conflict between what you have testified to or what you have said previously, and the autopsy report?
Dr.Perry. None at all.
RepresentativeBoggs. Just one question. I presume this question has been asked.
This neck wound, was there any indication that that wound had come from the front?
Dr.Perry. There is no way to tell, sir, for sure. As you may recall, passage of a high velocity missile, the damage it does, is dependent on two factors, actually, one being deformation of the missile, increase in its relative caliber, and the other the expending of the energy of that missile in the object it strikes.
For example, the energy used to carry the missile beyond the object that it struck is obviously not going to cause much of an injury. If there is a missile of relatively high velocity, although I consider this a medium velocity weapon, that the missile for entrance or exit had the bullet not been deformed would not be substantially different, had it not been deformed nor particularly slowed in its velocity.
RepresentativeBoggs. By that, you mean it would be difficult to determine the point of exit and the point of entrance under those circumstances?
Dr.Perry. Yes, sir; unless one were able to ascertain the trajectory. If you could, for example, make check points between what the missile might have struck, then you could ascertain trajectory. But with a relatively high velocity missile, this also is difficult due to the amount of blast injury which occurs in enclosed tissues, similar to those I am sure you have seen to those discussed, so blast injury can be an area remote from the exact passage of the missile itself.
RepresentativeBoggs. Of course, your main concern was to try to save the President's life andnot——
Dr.Perry. Yes, sir; it actually never occurred to me until all the questions began to come, and I was ill-prepared to meet them, but it never occurred to me that, to investigate, because I was busy, and I have done these types of things many times.
It just never occurred to me to look into it until afterwards.
RepresentativeFord. Any questions, Dean Storey?
Mr.Storey. No, thank you, sir.
RepresentativeFord. Mr. Murray?
Mr.Murray. No.
Mr.Dulles. I have one more question I would like to ask.
Did you know anything about the spent bullet that was found on, I don't know what you call it—the litter?
Dr.Perry. On the carriage?
Mr.Dulles. On the carriage.
Dr.Perry. My first knowledge of that was one of the newspaper publications had said there was a bullet found there. I don't know now whether it was or was not. I didn't find it.
Mr.Specter. May I say, Mr. Dulles, on that subject, I took several depositions on that subject in the Dallas Hospital and I think we have a reasonably conclusive answer on that question; and, in fact, it came from the stretcher of Governor Connally.
Dr.Perry. They were quoted as having removed a bullet from Governor Connally's leg, the press quoted that, but a bullet was not removed from Governor Connally's leg.
Mr.Specter. There was no bullet removed from Governor Connally's leg, but there was a wound there, but there was a very small fragment embedded in the femur, as the deposition of Drs. Shaw, Shires, and Gregory will show. But the bullet was found on a stretcher and the question arose as to whose stretcher it was, and we have traced the two stretchers in a way so as to exclude the possibility of its being the stretcher on which President Kennedy was carried, and we have traced the path of Governor Connally's stretcher and have narrowed it to two stretchers. And the bullet came off of one of the two stretchers, so that, through the circumstances of the facts, it is reasonably conclusive that it came from the stretcher of Governor Connally.
RepresentativeFord. How long did it take you to go from where you were when the page came to get down to trauma room No. 1?
Dr.Perry. A matter of no more than a minute or so, Congressman Ford. It is down one flight of stairs and the door is almost immediately adjacent to the dining room where we would go and we did not wait on the elevator. We went down the stairs.
RepresentativeFord. How long after the President was brought in before you went to trauma room No. 1?
Dr.Perry. That I don't know either. My last recollection in regard to time was approximately 12:30 when I was having lunch prior to rounds, and Dr. Jones picked up the page and as we went downstairs I took off my watch and dropped it in my coat pocket, rather expecting to do some kind of procedure, and I took off my coat and I never looked at the clock until afterwards.
Mr.McCloy. One more question, I want to get clear.
The extent to which you examined Governor Connally's wounds, as I gather, you were asked to stand by.
Dr.Perry. That is right, sir.
Mr.McCloy. Rather than to be involved in a close examination of the wounds.
Dr.Perry. That is right, sir.
Mr.McCloy. So you are not generally familiar?
Dr.Perry. No, sir; all I did was come into the operating room, put on a scrub suit, cap and mask, and looked at the thigh wound before Dr. Shires started the operation. That was the extent of the episode into the wound, and I stayed there while he carried it down to the lower portion of the wound and indicated there was no serious injury, and I left the operating room at that point.
Mr.McCloy. And you didn't see the other two wounds?
Dr.Perry. I didn't see the other wounds at all, sir.
RepresentativeFord. Thank you very much, Dr. Perry.
Your testimony has been most helpful.
(Whereupon, at 11:45 a.m., the President's Commission recessed.)