Talk to Me Like My Father: Frontline Medicine in Afghanistan
In Afghanistan as well as Iraq, the military is running out of doctors to patch up wounded troops—and civilians caught in the crossfire. One doctor's frontline diary from Kandahar.
A few months earlier, John tells me, the fighting was ferocious in Kandahar, but it always stalls in winter. The plain outside Kandahar in late January is dusty and, come midday, even warm. But in the mountain passes leading from Pakistan, the snow is deep, deep, deep. This makes for difficulty if one is crossing into Afghanistan, and comparatively gentle days in Kandahar.
Nevertheless, by the end of my first week, I scrub in on nerve and vascular grafting procedures, craniotomies, and all manner of thoracic surgery. If bones are involved, the orthopedists wade in; the oral surgeon does any procedure north of the collarbone. Otherwise, the general surgeons demonstrate just how general they can be. There are no plastic surgeons available for burn patients, no pediatric surgeons for the kids, no urologists, no vascular surgeons. It's clinical practice as it exists in places remote either in geography or time. But in medicine, as in love, there is Doctor Right, and there is Doctor Right Here.
About two-thirds of our patients are Afghans: Taliban and Afghan National Army (ana) personnel and civilians. The rest are coalition soldiers. The coalition folks generally do well; their body armor is very effective, and the amount of penetrating chest and abdominal trauma is limited. Not so with the Afghans. They often don't have body armor, and they aren't eligible for evacuation. When we received news that a mass casualty was en route with severe burns, we were told not to intubate Afghans with burns over more than 50 percent of their bodies—because in the absence of a burn unit, such a patient requiring life support rarely survives—but that we should do everything possible for coalition personnel because they would be evacuated to Germany or Dubai and then to places like Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, where the burn care is the best in the world. Any temptation to protest the different valuation of life explicit in the order was stalled by the briefest survey of the country around us: What else is new?
ten thousand soldiers and civilians work and live at Kandahar Airfield. The civilians mostly work for kbr, the former Halliburton subsidiary that runs the dining facilities (dfacs) and maintains the miles of prefabricated, pressed-metal barracks. The contractors speak with Midwestern and Southern accents mostly, chatting merrily with soldiers like neighbors leaning over a fence. The few other civilians include a handful of physicians, some foreign-service personnel, and—judging from the haircuts and eyewear—some cia types. It becomes a game to spot Special Forces soldiers, who do not wear uniforms but are revealed by their shoulders, exuberant beards, and sun-wrinkled eyes.
In the dining halls, Australian, New Zealand, and Jordanian soldiers eat alongside soldiers from nato countries, one polyglot mass of blinking and farting martial vigor. Viewed from the entrance, the long rows of tables appear as a kind of fabric mosaic: The Americans and Canadians in their pixelated browns and grays, the Australians in their bunny-ear-patterned beige, the British streaked by sawgrass-colored fronds, and the Romanians in yellowish-brown uniforms and floppy hats—currently the trend in military millinery, the Canadians, Dutch, and British all sport variants—looking rather like lifeguards in mufti.
Comments
Obviously, this jerk Patterson cares more about all the attention he is receiving for writing such an intrusive article. I don't think he gives a hoot about all who are affected such as the family and friends of Kevin. I trust that this article will be here for some time before it is removed. If not for the hits it is receiving, then to heighten Patterson's ego! You won't get an ego boost from me, Patterson. You and the individuals responsible for this article remaining here are insensitive idiots (and that's being nice)! Oh, here's an ego boost for you: you are a failure for not being able to save the life of Kevin Megeney. How does that grab ya'?? :D
Ms. Jeffery:
You may have contacted Cpl. Megeney's family to obtain their thoughts on this article but I have reservations as to their frame of mind considering they just received news of losing a loved one. Were they in shock when they provided you with a reply? Not everyone is "in their right mind" immediately after experiencing a tragedy. Did you consider this or were you more interested in getting the story out there?
What an amazing story...A true display of the horrors and realities of war...Every Canadian should read this...
My condolences to the families of those who have passed away or have been wounded as a result of this conflict...
Doctor Patterson.you tried to further your carreer by writing about the death of my brother's son.but for some reason you are at the top of your world and you will go no higher.infact you will start to fall,that I promiss you...why did you go over there?and how could you write so much in such little time?how much did you get paid from mother jones? and how much did the army pay you?by the sound of it you had this planned.you make me SICK
Clara Jeffery, co-editor of Mother Jones:
In reference to your contacting the family to obtain their permission, read the article on the following web site -
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/08/04/soldier-story.html#skip300x250
Patterson's not the only insensitive one. You are a vulture, Jeffery. I agree with the idea of Kevin's name being left out. He is not the only soldier who, unfortunately, lost his life in Afghanistan. His name could have been left out and your readers could have made their assumptions as to the soldier's identity. The story would have been just as effective with its account of this event of war. I truly hope that your magazine AND Patterson get what's coming to you!
I don't think its an issue whether the mother gave permission or not, or of burying your head or anything like that. The Doctor demonstrated a catastrophic lack of empathy, which makes me doubt whether he should be a doctor at all. The journal demonstrated a real lack of ethics, Mother's permission not withstanding. How would the author or editor feel if their violent deaths were publicized in the same sensationalist way? Remember also: this wasn't a death in combat. This was an accident. Will they give us glossies next time he deals with the product of a car or hunting accident? The Doctor, as well, was a member of the mission. He should not have gone if his real agenda was to gain notoriety for himself. Having gone he should have realised that it wasn't about HIM. In such a story the real hero is the author. The poor dead bugger becomes a thing. Can't most of us imagine what war's like, even if we haven't been there, without him earning a buck and making a name telling us -- based, of course, on his highly hazardous six week tour as a contractor, confined to Kandahar airfield? I agree with Chris Jenkins. This is cut from the same cloth as the generally ghoulish media coverage of this war. I expect that the Globe's objection (if any) is that it didn't get to publish the story first. I might have hoped that we, as a nation, were rather more compassionate and adult than this. I guess, however, that we just don't really have a schmick.
I am a Board Certified radiologist with 22 years of service in the US Army, currently in the Reserves, who would like to volunteer for a 90 day tour in Afghanistan. I am getting nowhere on my end with the response being that there is no need for a radiologist for a 90 days boots on the ground tour now anywhere in the world. Could you possibly put me in touch any hospitals in Afghanistan that could use my services. My e-mail is gonzalo.correa@us.army.mil My cell is 504-421-4911 and my home is 504-831-9637. I would greatly appreciate any assistance you could give.
Not sure who is more courageous, Patterson or Clara Jeffrey, Editor (see her comments). By continuing to sanitize stories from war zones, the media makes it appear that our soldiers are merely performing a job and deaths become unfortunate events...the equivalent of a car accident in the company parking lot. Patterson reveals the true picture of living in a conflict zone...the real chance of dying at any moment. Lives changes forever, regardless of coming out alive. It is this reality that everyone in a democracy must be clear on whenever a government sends it's Forces into these scenarios. Obviously we have to re-think what we are doing over there and the human expence that Patterson reveals (and Jeffrey tactfully supports) is what we should be basing our sence of urgency on. Sincere condolences to the Mageney family. Personally, I believe Kevin's death will not be in vain, partly due to the honesty of this article.
I commend Dr. Patterson for his caring attitude and committed approach to treating the wounded soldiers in Afghanistan.
Frankly, and as a Canadian, I have no problem with what has been written in Dr. Patterson's report about Canadian, American or Afghan soldiers. His description of the wounded and life on the base was well written and it is clear that he cared about his patients.
Tragically, the family has lost a loved one and are naturally grieving. I am sad for them.
However, I strongly feel that Canadians (and Americans) need to be aware of the graphic details and consequences of war as opposed to the "CNN sanitized version."
Dr. Patterson, thank you for the great work you have done for all of the soldiers you have attended to in Afghanistan!
To those people saying that it should be pulled you should feel ashamed.If you didn't happen to notice, the very family members and friends of the victim would like it to stay.For the people critisizing the dotor.What, you think it was easy for him?
Thank you for mentioning our special forces. (New Zealand) Your account brings the reality of war to the reader. It also brings the humanity of those who are suffering and affected in this war both soldiers and civilians.
Someone wrote that you should not have described the injuries and death of the young soldier. I know if it were my son I should want to know every detail. Not for me a sanitised telegram.
Thank you for bringing the reality of this war into our homes. Its a much more personal account than one gets on the news.
Carolyn Stirling (NZ)
Peter how is my son?
please reply
i am searching for one of my friend missing since candian chopper have picked him up from Kandahar zari Hige way after the taliban shots on him in wounded condetion and yet we don't have any clu about him has all family is worried about him has name is gulalia
Hello a pleasant afternoon is extented to you,my name is sheneak smith and i am from jamaica,and i am searching for my father who is in the british military.i do not know is really name all i know is that is last name is smith,and he always visited the manning camp site,Which is located in St anns Bay jamaica, and he also had family members in thsi small community called salt mash. he left me from i was a baby and went in to the military.
i wish you you could help in locating my father
Justice! Patterson did it for the exposure and the money and the loser still loses!
- "This week, the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons ruled that Dr. Patterson should pay $5,000 for the cost of a disciplinary hearing and make a donation of $7,000 to a registered charity acceptable to the college. The latter figure is the amount the physician and author received from Mother Jones magazine for the story that contained details on the last moments of Corporal Kevin Megeney in March of 2007."
Story from - http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090129.SOLDIER29/TPSt...
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