Israeli trauma expertise helping heal Boston’s wounded
Advances in battlefield surgery are aiding doctors as they treat the masses of severely wounded
The bombs that made Boston look like a combat zone have also brought battlefield medicine to their civilian victims. A decade of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and years of terror on Israel’s streets, have sharpened skills and scalpels, leading to dramatic advances that are now being used to treat the 13 amputees and nearly a dozen other patients still fighting to keep damaged limbs after Monday’s attack.
“The only field or occupation that benefits from war is medicine,” said Dr. David Cifu, rehabilitation medicine chief at the Veterans Health Administration
One place help has come from is Israel, which for decades has dealt with the aftermath of Palestinian bombs, like the ones in Boston, often laden with nails, ball bearings and other metals.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Massachusetts General Hospital director Dr. Alasdair Conn said the hospital’s triage knowledge had come from Israel.
“About two years ago… we asked the Israelis to come across, and they helped us set up our disaster team so that we could respond in this kind of manner,” he told reporters on Monday.
Dr. Pinchas Halpern, director of emergency medicine at Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical Center, has been in contact with doctors in Boston this week.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-trauma-expertise-helping-heal-bostons-wounded/
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