Death:
assassination |
McKinley was shot at close range. He underwent surgery within hours. He survived the operation, but died on the ninth post-operative day. Both his post-operative course [2a] and his autopsy [2b] have been meticulously documented [9] [10]. There was intense controversy about McKinley's medical care Some thought that McKinley could have been saved had renowned surgeon Roswell Park performed the operation More recent commentators believe, however, that McKinley died from pancreatic necrosis, a condition which is still difficult to treat today, and which the surgeons of McKinley's time could not have treated or prevented [5]. |
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Roswell Park was in the middle of an operation in Niagra Falls
when McKinley was shot. He was called to Buffalo immediately, and
a special train was sent, but he was delayed in returning.
The operation on McKinley's abdomen was performed by a gynecologist,
without the benefit of any lighting in the operating room.
The anesthetic (ether?) prevented the lighting of the gas lamps,
and by 5pm it was getting dark in the O.R. The President's personal
physician arrived at this time and rigged a system to reflect the
setting sun into the room.
In addition, there were no retractors available -- in fact, there
were few instruments available at all in the O.R. No one noticed
Park's complete surgical set in the anteroom.
There are those who think Park could have saved McKinley had he
operated. It is pertinent to note that Park later treated
(successfully) a woman who, distraught over McKinley's assassination,
inflicted the same type of wound on herself with the same caliber
gun.
[3a] |
