It\u2019s been five days since gunfire erupted at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump\u2019s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, resulting in an injury to the former president, the death of one attendee, Corey Comperatore, and severe injuries to two others. <\/p>\n
And although the images we\u2019ve seen of Trump since his attempted assassination have been those of a person who was barely injured and is now in high spirits, what we\u2019ve been told by the campaign offers very little insight into the former president\u2019s condition, what kind of care he received or how his medical team will monitor him in the days and weeks ahead. <\/p>\n
A full public assessment of Trump\u2019s injuries is necessary, for both the former president\u2019s own health and the clarity it can provide for voters about the recovery of the man who could become president of the United States once again. The concern is that gunshot blasts near the head can cause injuries that aren\u2019t immediately noticeable, such as bleeding in or on the brain, damage to the inner ear or even psychological trauma. As a trauma neurosurgeon, I have seen how a thorough evaluation after any kind of gunshot wound can provide a complete picture and lead to a speedier recovery. <\/p>\n
The first official communication about Trump\u2019s health from his campaign came about 40 minutes after the shooting. It simply said Trump was \u201cfine\u201d and was \u201cbeing checked out at a local medical facility.\u201d It added that more details would follow. <\/p>\n
However, the only other official details came about two hours later, in a post by Trump himself on Truth Social, where he wrote: \u201cI was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear. I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin.\u201d <\/p>\n
Beyond that, most of what we know about his injury is based on what we\u2019ve seen in pictures and video, and from secondhand accounts. <\/p>\n
In the moments immediately following the sounds of gunfire on Saturday, we saw Trump raise his right hand to his ear and the side of his face. He did not collapse but seemed to duck to the ground of his own accord. <\/p>\n
With US Secret Service surrounding him, he stood up about a minute later, raised his right arm and was able to walk and speak immediately. We saw him rouse the audience, telling them to \u201cFight!\u201d as he pumped his fist in the air. From a medical standpoint, these are all very good signs and, despite the visible blood on his face, provided evidence that he wasn\u2019t severely injured. <\/p>\n
US Rep. Ronny Jackson, Trump\u2019s former White House physician, said during an interview Monday on \u201cThe Benny Show\u201d podcast, that he \u201cchecked out\u201d the wound to Trump\u2019s ear and bandaged it himself. He added that \u201cthere was no concussive effect from the bullet\u201d because it was far enough from Trump\u2019s head. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt just took the top of his ear off, a little bit of the top of his ear off, as it passed through,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cIt was bleeding like crazy.\u201d \u00a0
\u00a0
Trump was transported to nearby Butler Memorial Hospital. Dr. David Rottinghaus, an emergency room physician there, said the hospital had been in contact with the Secret Service before Saturday\u2019s rally. Rottinghaus, who did not treat Trump himself and would not comment on Trump\u2019s treatment or condition, said he came to the hospital shortly after the shooting to help triage patients. <\/p>\n
Those plans included designating a bed in the ER in case it was needed, having clinical teams at the rally itself to treat patients on-site for minor medical issues, and avoiding overwhelming the hospital if there were a crisis. <\/p>\n
When the unthinkable happened, Rottinghaus said, it took just minutes for Butler Memorial to put its plan into action, locking down the hospital and diverting patients to other health care facilities. <\/p>\n
Although we were told that Trump had a CT scan and other routine exams, it is not clear when these tests were performed, who read the scans or whether his brain specifically was examined. <\/p>\n
In the Monday interview, Jackson said Trump\u2019s injury was \u201cdressed up. He\u2019ll be OK. \u2026 It\u2019s going to granulate and heal in, and he\u2019s not going to need anything to be done with it.\u201d\u00a0
\u00a0
On Wednesday, in an interview with CBS News, Eric Trump said that his father had \u201cno stitches but certainly, certainly a nice flesh wound.\u201d <\/p>\n
And Trump has been moving around the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week, talking and smiling through speeches with a bandage on his ear. <\/p>\n
All of this points to a favorable prognosis. But it is still surprising that we have not heard more about the exact diagnosis and care of what may have been a catastrophic injury. And, while all the attention has been on his ear and right side of his head, that doesn\u2019t mean other injuries may not be present. It\u2019s not even clear that he was struck by a primary projectile from the rifle, a secondary projectile or a combination of both. Sometimes, it can be difficult to know without an in-depth evaluation. <\/p>\n
We do know that the shooter used an AR-15-style weapon, and in my experience in the operating room, I\u2019ve witnessed the kind of trauma this weapon can cause. The kinetic energy of it is significant: A rifle like the AR-15 can produce up to 1,300 foot-pounds of force. With that much power close to the head, there can be injuries beyond what\u2019s visible. <\/p>\n
For example, a fracture to the thin bone in that region of the skull, an epidural hematoma (or bleeding between the skull and the brain) and damage to the bones of the inner ear, which can result in hearing loss, vertigo or dizziness. <\/p>\n
A CT scan can usually detect such injuries, but they aren\u2019t always immediately apparent. As a result, sometimes patients are observed in the hospital and may even undergo a repeat CT scan. <\/p>\n
The stress from a shooting can also have psychological effects. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn the chaos that immediately follows being shot, these psychological impacts don\u2019t always manifest,\u201d said Dr. Kenji Inaba, a trauma surgeon with the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. \u201cIt can come up later on, and it\u2019s something that we always need to be acutely aware of.\u201d <\/p>\n
The good news is that most physical symptoms of an injury would probably have revealed themselves over the past few days. At this point, however,\u00a0the Trump campaign hasn\u2019t yet shared whether a full workup was done at the time or if there has been any follow-up since. <\/p>\n
Presidents and presidential candidates are not required to share their medical histories with the public, but voters have said that the health conditions of their leaders matter to them in this election. More information helps everyone make better decisions. <\/p>\n
In an intense political season for the country, that kind of collaboration and communication may be a lesson for the candidates, too. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been five days since gunfire erupted at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump\u2019s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, resulting in an injury to the former president, the death of one attendee, Corey Comperatore, and severe injuries to two others. And although the images we\u2019ve seen of Trump since his attempted assassination have been those of a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"loftocean_post_primary_category":0,"loftocean_post_format_gallery":"","loftocean_post_format_gallery_ids":"","loftocean_post_format_gallery_urls":"","loftocean_post_format_video_id":0,"loftocean_post_format_video_url":"","loftocean_post_format_video_type":"","loftocean_post_format_video":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_type":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_url":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_id":0,"loftocean_post_format_audio":"","loftocean-featured-post":"","loftocean-like-count":0,"loftocean-view-count":741,"tinysalt_single_post_intro_label":"","tinysalt_single_post_intro_description":"","tinysalt_hide_post_featured_image":"","tinysalt_post_featured_media_position":"","tinysalt_single_site_header_source":"","tinysalt_single_custom_site_header":"0","tinysalt_single_custom_sticky_site_header":"0","tinysalt_single_custom_sticky_site_header_style":"sticky-scroll-up","tinysalt_single_site_footer_source":"","tinysalt_single_custom_site_footer":"0","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}