Lincoln's 1865 Autopsy Report and Death Certificate

[LincolnToddFan]

(05-22-2014 05:57 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(05-22-2014 01:41 AM)LincolnToddFan Wrote:  I can't imagine him or anyone else surviving such an injury, but of course a few doctors have suggested that modern medicine might have saved AL.

Hi Toia. wsanto (Dr. William Santo) of our forum is among the doctors who feel this way. Here is a quote from a post Dr. Santo made on the forum last August:

"Assuming the bullet hadn't crossed the midline (per Dr. Woodward's report), Lincoln's entire right hemisphere was uninjured. The bullet did not significantly injure any major centers in the brain (except Broca's area that controls speech, and some motor and sensory regions). His right hemisphere could have potentially learned, with a lot of rehabilitation, some of the functions that were damaged on the left. I disagree that he would have survived as a "vegetable". He very well may have survived and been able think, learn, and communicate in a useful way."

I should emphasize that Bill is referring to 2014 medical knowledge, not 1865.

He was physically an astonishingly strong human being, that's for sure. It's fascinating to speculate.

Historian/author Jay Winik makes a point in his book "1865: The Month That Saved America." Abraham Lincoln, 56 years old and in a state of profound physical and emotional exhaustion on April 14 1865, was still able to hang on for a little over 9 hours with a bullet deep in his brain.

John Wilkes Booth was less than half Lincoln's age and survived for two hours with a bullet in his neck.