thedrifter
06-06-03, 06:05 AM
June 04, 2003
‘Devil Doc’ relished chance to save lives during war
By Bill Kaczor
Associated Press
PENSACOLA, Fla. — Navy “Devil Doc” Capt. John Perciballi was operating in 100-degree heat inside a tent in the desert on an Iraqi patient, unsure if he was a civilian or soldier, without any way to determine his blood type.
A bullet had gone through the man’s liver, over the aorta and took out his spleen and a kidney, Perciballi recalled Tuesday at the Pensacola Naval Hospital, his permanent duty station.
“I’m giving him the universal donor blood, O-positive. The question comes is when I’m running out of that what do I do?” the surgeon said. “We decided to give O-positive blood from a walking donor, a Marine.”
With only one exception, that patient and all others — Iraqi or Marine — survived after finding their way to Perciballi’s operating table.
That record proved that front-line surgical teams, called Devil Docs, saved lives in Iraq that otherwise would have been lost, Perciballi said. It was the first time the surgical teams went into combat with Marines.
His only exception was a 2-year-old Iraqi child critically injured by a land mine.
The six eight-member surgical teams were formed to focus on the 10 to 15 percent of casualties who usually die because it takes too long to get surgical care.
“In my case, I think there were three or four lives definitely that were saved,” said Perciballi, who operated on more than a dozen patients.
Perciballi, 46, a native of Hondo, Texas, who grew up in Chelmsford, Mass., was the only surgeon on his team; some have two. He was accompanied by an orthopedist, anesthesiologist, critical care nurse, two corpsmen and two operating room technicians.
An ambulance and two Humvees pulling trailers took the team and its tents, equipment and supplies from Kuwait into Iraq with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Unit on the first day of the war. It took about an hour to set up the tents and open for business.
Waves of casualties started coming in during the midst of a sandstorm. About 60 percent of the patients were Iraqis and 40 percent Marines. Those who might die in the next hour were treated first regardless of who they were.
“With the fog of war there’s always certain things that pop up,” Perciballi said. “We were set up to take care of Marine casualties. Early on in the war we got pediatric cases and we did not have the supplies for that.”
One was the land mine victim they were unable to save, although not for lack of effort, he said.
“We scavenged around in our tents to look for equipment that could be used and retrofitted,” Perciballi said. “For instance, the breathing tube had to be made out of catheter that’s usually used in the bladder.”
Perciballi’s Devil Doc experience was a contrast to his uneventful duty aboard the aircraft carrier Forrestal during the first Persian Gulf War.
“On a carrier you are there waiting for a possible catastrophe,” he said. “Here, we knew the catastrophe was coming.”
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Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/content/editorial/editart/060403doc.jpg
Capt. John Perciballi served on one of six medical teams that accompanied Marines to the front lines in Iraq. — Cmdr. Andrew Findley, U.S. Navy / AP photo
Sempers,
Roger
‘Devil Doc’ relished chance to save lives during war
By Bill Kaczor
Associated Press
PENSACOLA, Fla. — Navy “Devil Doc” Capt. John Perciballi was operating in 100-degree heat inside a tent in the desert on an Iraqi patient, unsure if he was a civilian or soldier, without any way to determine his blood type.
A bullet had gone through the man’s liver, over the aorta and took out his spleen and a kidney, Perciballi recalled Tuesday at the Pensacola Naval Hospital, his permanent duty station.
“I’m giving him the universal donor blood, O-positive. The question comes is when I’m running out of that what do I do?” the surgeon said. “We decided to give O-positive blood from a walking donor, a Marine.”
With only one exception, that patient and all others — Iraqi or Marine — survived after finding their way to Perciballi’s operating table.
That record proved that front-line surgical teams, called Devil Docs, saved lives in Iraq that otherwise would have been lost, Perciballi said. It was the first time the surgical teams went into combat with Marines.
His only exception was a 2-year-old Iraqi child critically injured by a land mine.
The six eight-member surgical teams were formed to focus on the 10 to 15 percent of casualties who usually die because it takes too long to get surgical care.
“In my case, I think there were three or four lives definitely that were saved,” said Perciballi, who operated on more than a dozen patients.
Perciballi, 46, a native of Hondo, Texas, who grew up in Chelmsford, Mass., was the only surgeon on his team; some have two. He was accompanied by an orthopedist, anesthesiologist, critical care nurse, two corpsmen and two operating room technicians.
An ambulance and two Humvees pulling trailers took the team and its tents, equipment and supplies from Kuwait into Iraq with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Unit on the first day of the war. It took about an hour to set up the tents and open for business.
Waves of casualties started coming in during the midst of a sandstorm. About 60 percent of the patients were Iraqis and 40 percent Marines. Those who might die in the next hour were treated first regardless of who they were.
“With the fog of war there’s always certain things that pop up,” Perciballi said. “We were set up to take care of Marine casualties. Early on in the war we got pediatric cases and we did not have the supplies for that.”
One was the land mine victim they were unable to save, although not for lack of effort, he said.
“We scavenged around in our tents to look for equipment that could be used and retrofitted,” Perciballi said. “For instance, the breathing tube had to be made out of catheter that’s usually used in the bladder.”
Perciballi’s Devil Doc experience was a contrast to his uneventful duty aboard the aircraft carrier Forrestal during the first Persian Gulf War.
“On a carrier you are there waiting for a possible catastrophe,” he said. “Here, we knew the catastrophe was coming.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/content/editorial/editart/060403doc.jpg
Capt. John Perciballi served on one of six medical teams that accompanied Marines to the front lines in Iraq. — Cmdr. Andrew Findley, U.S. Navy / AP photo
Sempers,
Roger