Doctor's Report--Dr. Charles A. Leale, first physician to reach Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre

[Gay Mathis]

Doctor's report from Lincoln shooting discovered

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/06/05/MNE11OTANN.DTL

Excerpt: "Leale's long-lost report of efforts to help the mortally wounded president, written just hours after his death, was discovered in a box at the National Archives late last month"

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Papers of Abraham Lincoln researcher discovers report of  Dr. Charles A. Leale, first physician to reach Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre--(News release and link to the report..Be prepared for the heavy demand regarding access..)

http://www.papersofabrahamlincoln.org/NewsReleases/Is%20there%20a%2...

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[Augustus McCrae]

Just to show...new facts are still being discovered. I heard about this on our local radio station a couple days ago. 

[Gold Lady]

Darn doctor just HAD to stick his dirty finger in the bullet hole, didn't he?  Oh well, I guess it didn't matter in this case.

[Buck Grizzly]

What was the brandy and water for, he doctor or the patient?

 

Dirty finger? I'm sure he wiped it on his coat before he stuck it in the wound. In any case that was how they did things back then, and for the time, he probably got the best care anyone else would have offered. But like you said, it probably didn't make that much of a difference anyway.

[Gay Mathis]

Sure did give a good glimpse into the medical care back then..Excerpt regarding the brandy & water.."The brandy and water now arrived and a small quantity was placed in his mouth, which passed into his stomach where it was retained"

[Gold Lady]

I've read that women in childbirth attended to by doctors were much more likely to die of infection than those attended to by midwives. Doctors had sick patients' germs all over their hands and clothing. Midwives did not, even if they did not wash their hands. When you think about men's suits, which could not be easily cleaned, they must have been filthy.

[Augustus McCrae]

Isopropil alcohal has been around for thousands of years, but yet drinking alcohol is portrayed

to be the germ killing agent back then. Maybe because it was more available. I did like the way the way Doc Leale documented the ordeal..like a hands on story if you will.  

[Augustus McCrae]

ALCOHOL..my bad.

 

[Jolene Little]

Great timing.  I am currently reading the book Killing Lincoln by Bill O'Reilly.  It goes into great detail about the Civil War and the medical care or lack there of, available to soldiers etc. during that time period.  Great book, I highly recommend it.

[leslie thomas austin (aka) Judge Roy Bean .U.k.]

Strange this , for I have finnish reading a book by David J. Eicher called the Longest Night. And in the last part of the book it has this report by said Doctor word for word ,hmmm. so he must have had accsess to this matireal .

[leslie thomas austin (aka) Judge Roy Bean .U.k.]

BTW this book was printed in 2002.