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Surgeon Recounts Injuries and Experiience in Haiti
From:
Dave E. David, M.D.  --- Doctor Spokesperson Dave E. David, M.D. --- Doctor Spokesperson
boston, MA
Monday, February 8, 2010


Dr. Dave Evaluating a Fracture
 
 I left for Haiti on the evening of 1/22, and could fly only into the Dominican Republic, it being nearly impossible to get in or out of Port Au Prince. Because of a delayed flight and short connection, if it weren't for the help of Logan's control tower and also Continental Airlines, holding flights for me and manipulating sequences of takeoffs, I wouldn't have been able to arrive in Santo Domingo late that night, which I had to do, in order to catch a special van for the 12 hour ride into Haiti on a small road.

After purchasing drugs in Santo Domingo, as well as machetes, knives and mace for protection, my team headed out for Haiti.

We slept outside on the ground about a mile from one of the mass graves, where they were burying 40,000 bodies at the time.

The stench would wake me up from a sound sleep.

Each day I would be driven by a chicken truck about an hour to different parts of the city to makeshift "hospitals".

Although I'm a Cosmetic Surgeon, I basically did everything BUT cosmetic surgery, as having been doing surgery for over 30 years, I was used for anything and everything. I treated patients outdoors, on the ground, in partially collapsed hospital facilities and performed most of my surgery in a tent.

I did everything from abdominal surgery, delivering babies, operated on severe fractures and crushing injuries, saw patients with fevers over 107.6, malaria, meningitis, deep open wounds with maggots crawling in the open wounds.

Lots of amputations had to be performed.

We operated without electricity, minimal anesthesia, and just the bare basics, not knowing who patients were, their names, etc.

During surgery, flies were inside the surgical incisions.

I performed emergency Caesarian sections on patients who were laboring on the ground in the mud.

Once the U.S. Military and the U.N. forces moved in, order was restored quite well.

Toward the end, I was told it may be 2 more weeks before being able to fly out of Port au Prince and return home, as the airport was minimally functional, so I had to be evacuated by an Air Force cargo plane, back to the U.S.

I have nearly a thousand pictures of surgery, patients, the earthquake devastation, treatment, military presence, etc, as well as videos of my doing surgery in some of the tents and deliverance of babies in a partially collapsed hospital..

Using car batteries as an emergency generator in a hospital, Christmas lights as an extension cord, a woman with a fractured pelvis being brought in in a wheelbarrow….

The pictures and videos I have are spectacular, horrible and heart warming
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Name: Dave E. David, M.D.
Dateline: Boston, MA United States
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