So let's have a look at what the Parkland witnesses said in this article. What is quite clear is that they were not unanimous.
Here are the highlights from the interviews of the witnesses:
Dr. Adolph Giesecke
Right at the start, Dr. Giesecke maintains he just there for a brief period"
Dr. Giesecke did not examine JFK's wounds:
Bradlee and his assistant, Nils Bruzelius, then had Giesecke mark a skull to illustrate the location of the head wound:
Dr. Giesecke was only in the Emergency room for five minutes:
The wound was obscured by a pool of blood:
Dr. Giesecke then tells Bradlee that the tracing of the autopsy photograph is compatible with what he saw:
Dr. Giesecke then says that the McClelland drawing is not what he remembered:
Bradlee wonders why there is all this confusion:
It turns out that Dr. Geisecke is a fan of Dr. John Lattimer:
Dr. Charles Baxter
Dr. Baxter immediately tells Bradlee how difficult it was to see the actual wound:
Dr. Baxter drew on the skull where he thought the wound was located:
He says he "no idea whether that's accurate of not." And then Dr. Baxter says that he thinks part of the wound might be occipital but "I never saw that," and that it was on "the lower right side/temporal region."
Dr. Baxter then quotes Dr. Kemp Clark:
He says that Clark said that Kennedy's temporal plate was destroyed. That does not sound like McClelland's occipital wound.
Dr. Baxter then says that the autopsy tracing does not conflict with what he saw:
Bradlee then shows Baxter a drawing by Dr. John Lattimer:
Dr. Baxter likes the Lattimer diagram but then says that he just has no idea if the wound extended to the occipital area.
Dr. Baxter then says the lower parts of the head was hidden because of the position of JFK's body:
Dr. Charles Carrico
Dr. Charles Carrico was not interviewed for the Boston Globe article but he did send two letters answering questions.
Here is a summary from Bradlee's notes:
Carrico wrote that the autopsy photograph showed "nothing ... incompatible" with what he remembered.
Here is a drawing by Dr. Charles Carrico provided with his letter:
As you can see, the wound is on the right side of JFK's head.
Dr. Malcolm Perry
Dr. Malcolm Perry was also not interviewed for the Boston Globe article but he did answer questions via two letters.
Here is the summary from Bradlee's notes:
Dr. Perry wrote that he only gave a "cursory glance at the head wound," and that the autopsy photograph "seems to be consistent with what I saw."
Dr. Marion Jenkins
Right off the bat, Dr. Jenkins said he didn't get a good look:
It was hard to see the wound because of JFK's hair:
Dr. Jenkins says only the autopsy pathologists knew the full extent of the head wound:
Dr. Jenkins then tells Bradlee where the wound was and that it was not on the back of the head:
Bradlee doesn't give up:
Dr. Jenkins is then shown the McClelland drawing, and he did not think that it properly represented the head wound:
During the discussion Bradlee had asked Dr. Jenkins to mark up a skull with where he thought the wound was located. He refused. Here is an excerpt from Bradlee's notes:
Dr. Robert Grossman
There is a lot of controversy about Dr. Grossman. It is unclear if he was even in the Emergency room, and if he was, it was only for a very brief period. David Lifton wrote an article about Dr. Grossman which makes one skeptical about his detailed descriptions of the wounds.
Here is the summary from Bradlee's notes about Dr. Grossman.
And so, even though Dr. Grossman supports the autopsy photographs, I have decided that we can ignore what he told the Boston Globe.
Dr. Gene Akin
Dr. Akin (now known as Solomon Ben Israel) calls the wound an exit wound and says it was on the right side.
Dr. Akin says it was located in the parietal part of the skull:
The wound was "so covered with blood" that Akin couldn't really draw it on a skull.
Akin couldn't really tell how big the wound was:
The wound was more parietal than occipital:
Dr. Akin did not lift JFK"s head:
Dr. Akin is shown the McClelland drawing and defers to it:
Dr. Richard Dulany
Dr. Dulany did not have much of a role in the Emergency room and he wasn't there very long:
Dr. Dulaney says someone lifted JFK's head:
But Dr. Dulaney did not look closely:
Dr. Dulany is reluctant to mark up a skull:
Dr Dulany insists it would be diffiult to draw the wound:
Dr. Dulany was unsure of the exact location of the wound:
Dr. Dulany tries to show Bradlee where the wound was on a skull:
But his memory is hazy:
Dulany just can't be sure:
They showed Dr. Dulany the McClelland drawing:
They then showed Dulany a sketch made by Dr. Lattimer:
While Dulany has some issues with the Lattimer drawing, he pauses and emphasizes the issue of hair, clotted blood, etc.
Dr. Paul Peters
They ask Dr. Peters to mark the wound on a skull:
Dr. Peters says that he doesn't believe anybody moved the head:
Dr. Peters is then shown the tracing of an autopsy photograph:
Dr. Peters says that wound of entry is "important."
Dr. Peters does not think the autopsy tracing is consistent with what he saw, but he does say that the head wound was on the right:
Peters then says that autopsy tracing is accurate in terms of depicting the wound of entry:
Dr. Peters is asked about an interview he did with David Lifton:
Dr. Peters is then shown the McClelland drawing:
Peters placed the wound higher and to the right of the McClelland drawing.
Dr. Ron Jones
They show Dr. Jones the McClelland drawing:
Dr. Jones is reluctant to mark up a skull:
Like many other doctors, Jones noted that JFK's head was a mess of hair blood and scalp:
Dr. Jones is asked if he agrees with the Warren Report:
Interestingly, Dr. Jones refused to mark up a skull. Here is an exceprt from Bradlee's notes:
Patricia Gustafson
Gustafson was a nurse at Parkland Hospital.
Gustafson describes the head wound:
Gustafson is asked to mark up a skull:
Gustafson's memory is an important factor:
Gustafon did not raise JFK's head:
Gustafson could not be definite:
They show Gustafson the tracing of an autopsy photograph:
Gustafson is then show the McClelland drawing:
Doris Nelson
Doris Nelson was a nurse in the Emergency department.
Memory is an issue for Nelson:
Nelson marks up a skull and they are amazed at the small size of the wound:
Nelson is shown the McClelland drawing:
Bradlee's notes discuss Nelson's drawing:
Margaret Hood
Margaret Hood was interviewed by was not taped. Here are the notes of Ben Bradlee:
She told Bradlee that because of the position of Kennedy, "you couldn't see much of the wound."
Discussion
It's pretty clear that these witnesses are not unanimous in anything. Some leaned toward the autopsy tracing, and some leaned toward the McClelland drawing. A lot of them indicated that it was hard to tell the precise location of the wound because of JFK's hair and large amount of clotted blood. Nobody picked up the head and so the position of Kennedy on the cart might have played a role in how people interpreted the wound.
It's instructive to read Pat Speer's analysis of the Boston Globe interviews, in particular his conclusion:
Let's reflect. Ben Bradlee and the Boston Globe interviewed 14 Parkland witnesses in 1981. Of these 14, 8 strongly questioned or rejected the accuracy of the autopsy photo showing the back of Kennedy's head, and 6 supported or failed to question the accuracy of the photo. This is indeed interesting. But what's just as interesting, and just as telling in the long run, is that NINE of these 14 rejected the accuracy of the McClelland drawing, which those focusing on this issue nevertheless propped up as a depiction of the one true wound.
Feel free to scream. And let's reflect that when ultimately reporting on these interviews, in his 1989 best seller High Treason, Livingstone and his co-author Robert Groden claimed that the "McClelland" drawing "was verified by every doctor, nurse, and eyewitness as accurate."
So, I ask again, were we conned?
Previous Relevant Blog Posts on the Medical Evidence
A look at what the Parkland doctors wrote and what they said.
Attending physicians often make mistakes in determining the nature of gunshot wounds. Should we care what the Parkland doctors think?
The attending physician in the John Lennon murder was proved wrong about his wounds.
Wecht complains about the HSCA's forensic pathology panel.
Wecht has a suggestion for Dr. Baden.
Wecht's memoir mentions his examination of the autopsy materials in 1972 but neglects to talk about his conclusion that the fatal head shot came from behind.
James DiEugenio's obituary of Dr. Wecht leaves out his conclusion that the fatal head shot came from behind.
Dr. Cyril Wecht (1931 - 2024) זיכרונו לברכה
My obituary for Dr. Cyril Wecht.
A letter from Dr. Wecht to Thomas Stamm on the head shot.
A letter from Dr. Wecht to Sylvia Meagher on the head shot.
Dr. Wecht believes that JFK's throat wound was one of exit.
Dr. Robert Kirschner's consultation with the ARRB explains a mystery in the documentary.
JFK Revisited makes a big deal about the weight of JFK's brain and ignores a non-conspiratorial explanation.
Oliver Stone's so-called documentary makes it sound like the autopsy photographer said that he did not take the photos of JFK's brain that are in the current inventory,
Oliver Stone's so-called documentary series, JFK: Destiny Betrayed, features Dr. Charles Crenshaw to bolster its claim that President Kennedy was shot from the front. Viewers are not informed of Dr. Crenshaw's credibility problems.
Oliver Stone's so-called documentary, JFK: Destiny Betrayed, misleads viewers on the opinions of Parkland Hospital doctors and Bethesda witnesses regarding JFK's head wound.
Oliver Stone's so-called documentary series, JFK: Destiny Betrayed, misleads viewers into thinking the Harper fragment was occipital bone that came from the back of Kennedy's head.
Have a look at Dr. Joseph Dolce's bad judgment.
Oliver Stone's so-called documentary series JFK: Destiny Betrayed uses a variety of supposed witnesses to allege that the wound in the back of Kennedy's head was one of exit. Audrey Bell is one such witness and she doesn't have much credibility.
Oliver Stone's so-called documentary series, JFK: Destiny Betrayed, tries to make the case that because Parkland Hospital doctors saw cerebellum extruding from Kennedy's head wound, that it indicated an exit wound.
While Gerald Ford edited some language in the Warren Report, he did not change the location of the back wound. Autopsy photographs show exactly the location of the back wound.
Oliver Stone's so-called documentary series, JFK: Destiny Betrayed, alleges that autopsy pathologists were told to fit the wounds to a presupposed conclusion.
A podcast with Robert Wagner who has written an important book on the medical evidence.