Report that Booth's Horse Fell on Him

[wsanto]

Laurie,

An orthopedic surgeon would use x-rays to determine the type of fracture present and then apply those findings to the "mechanism of injury", that is--what forces were involved to produce the particular injury.

Physical exam can locate the fracture and possibly the stability of the bone but, without an x-ray, it would be nearly impossible to determine the exact type and shape (transverse, spiral, etc) of a fractue someone suffered in a closed orthopedic injury. The only other way to definately determine the type of fracture present would be by exposing the fracture in surgery or autoupsy.

Mr. Kauffman claims Booth's fibula was broken in a straight line perpendicular to the long axis of the bone (transverse) just above the ankle. I don't know his source for this since there were no x-rays and the bone was not exposed during autopsy (at least to my knowledge). He goes on to explain that this type of fracture is what you would expect from the force of having the weight of a horse trapping a foot with the ground during a fall. He goes on to explain that a transverse fibula fracture above the ankle was a very common fracture during the Civil War. He surmises, based on his interview with an orthopedic surgeon, that a leap fracture would be spiral in nature. It is much more complicated than that since the combination of the various possible vectors of the forces and the various potential positions of the foot at contact could cause any number of shapes, sizes and types of fibula fracture (including a transverse fracture).

It is my understanding that at the time one had a simple fracture (closed) or a complicated fracture (open-or having the bone breaking through the skin). Booth's fracture was clearly simple in that regard. Mudd did not seem to regard it as a severe fracture based on his physical exam.