So if your congress person wears one of those adorable AR-15 lapel pins, tell them they’re a piece of shit. Via MedPage Today:
Richard King, MD, the medical director for trauma at Central Maine Healthcare, told Reuters and CBS News the damage to patients shot in yet another mass shooting was like nothing he had ever seen before.
“This was the first time that I’d actually taken care of someone with high-velocity gunshot wounds,” King told CBS News. “I’d read about them … but to actually see them in person and see the destructive ability of those rounds was really quite sobering.”
Unlike other gunshot wounds, King described the exit wounds from the semi-automatic rifle to CBS as “gaping holes,” and injuries with “complete destruction of the surrounding tissue.” When these rounds hit bone, for example, it can shatter and form a missile or projectile that causes more damage outside the bullet track.
King told Reuters that about 30 surgeons were on site within minutes of the first ambulance arriving. They rushed to stop the bleeding and treat about a dozen patients. They were concerned about running out of blood, but the hospital’s program manager was able to quickly secure more units from nearby hospitals.
In total, 18 people were killed — almost the average number of homicides in Maine for an entire year, according to Reuters.
