In recent weeks, the country has been plagued by mass shootings, including in Buffalo (New York), Uvalde (Texas), Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Philadelphia.
This year there have been more that 240 mass shootings. This grim statistic comes after gun violence reached its highest point in 20 years in 2020 according to CDC data.
This is a pattern that doctors can see even without having to look at the numbers.
Experts say that bullets from lower caliber weapons like handguns can penetrate straight through targets. Higher caliber guns like the AR-15s used for mass shootings can cause organ liquefaction due to their faster projectile speeds.
Dr. Ian Brown, a trauma doctor at UC Davis Health in Sacramento said that assault weapons cause a condition known as cavitation. This means that the projectile passes through tissue and creates a large cavity. “That causes a lot of tissue damage both at the initial impact and as it continues to necrose or die.”
Children are more at risk because their organs and arteries have a smaller surface area, according to Dr. Joseph Sakran, who is the director of emergency surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
It is crucial to know where the projectile will land, said Dr. Eric Savitsky at UCLA Medical Center.
He stated that “from a survival and morbidity perspective what bullets hit, (bullets were) small calibers or large calibers is the primary determinant patient outcomes.”
Paramedics who respond to shots are required to send a notification to the hospital. It includes details about the incident, the injuries, vital signs, patient status, and an estimate of time to arrive at the hospital.
Once the patient arrives at the trauma center, a team consisting of health care workers from the hospital report to the emergency department and begin stabilizing and assessing the patient.
Savitsky stated that surgeons need to identify the most serious wounds from multiple gunshot wounds.
He said, “All of this typically happens within a few minutes to sometimes an hour after the patient arrives at the emergency department.”
Brown stated that chaos in hospitals can have an impact on how patients respond.
“They are probably already scared, as they have been shot. Now we surround them with several people. He said that they are removing all their clothes so we can expose their bodies, find all the injuries and dress them. “And all this happens very quickly. That in itself is a type of trauma mentally.”
Brown explained that in the past, surgeons would tend to the wounds and then send the patients on their way. However, the recidivism rate, or likelihood of being shot again in shooting victims, was high.
Brown stated that the conditions for your shot are already present, so there were high chances you would be shot again in five years. “And history has shown that medicine didn’t change this.”
Hospitals have started to offer assistance programs for gunshot victims over the past decade, much like heart attack patients receive guidance about changing their diet and exercise routines.
Patients can speak to violence intervention professionals at UC Davis Health where Brown works. Many of these professionals have personally been victims themselves.
These professionals will assist patients with employment, legal issues, and stable housing for the next year. Many gunshot victims fear returning to their homes due to injuries sustained in their home or nearby.
Brown stated that he emphasized the fact that he is treating people and not gunshot wounds. “So it all starts there.”
Johns Hopkins offers a similar program.
Sakran takes high school students on tours to the trauma center and gives talks about gun violence.
He said that many of them listen half-heartedly, and then he told them that he was 17 when he was injured in a high school football match.
He said, “As a survivor from gun violence, it has been a very special experience. I now have to take care of critically injured patients.”
He said, “If someone comes to my trauma center after being shot in the head,” Prevention is the best form of medical treatment. We need to think about the public health problem in a different way. Let’s make it more likely that people are injured or killed and make our communities safer.
At 45,222, gun-related injuries claimed a record number American lives in 2020. According to CDC data, more than half of these deaths were suicides while 43% were murders.
According to Pew Research Center, this year saw the highest level of gun violence since mid-1990s with 13.6 gun deaths per 100 people.
Savitksy claimed that he treated the greatest number of victims of penetrating injuries, also known as people who were shot or stabbed in Los Angeles, 1990s. He stated that he treated the lowest number of victims around 5-10 years ago.
It has been increasing in recent years. Savitsky stated that the UCLA facility treats approximately 5-10 gunshot victims per week.
He said, “Anecdotally it feels about the most violent society we’ve ever had probably in two, three decades.” “The level of person-on-person violence is not limited to guns. It includes any type of weapon that can be used to hurt someone, such as a hammer, a blade of wood, a pipe or knife. It’s anything people can get their hands on, regardless of their rationality or emotions.
Brown stated that when he started his career in medicine, trauma centers usually received gunshot victims on Fridays and Saturdays.
Slowly, it started to happen more often every day. He said that there was no day when you could think it wouldn’t happen.
Brown stated that he sees one to three victims of gunshot wounds per night during the two weeks that he works the trauma shift.
For seven consecutive years, Baltimore has seen more than 300 homicides. According to The Baltimore Sun, 293 out of 338 homicides in 2021 were shootings.
Sakran believes that all gun violence must be dealt with in a holistic manner.
“The solutions for urban areas may differ from those dealing with gun violence suicides or unintentional injuries.”
He said, “It requires a multifaceted approach that crosses the sectors. And part of that…in urban cities is really trying…to understand how to address the social structures, institutions that harm people and prevent them from meeting their basic requirements.”
Families. Witnesses. Frontline workers.
Drs. In their decades-long careers, Brown, Sakran, and Savitsky experienced this firsthand.
Sakran stated, “It’s difficult to have to go in those waiting rooms, to talk to these moms and dads and realize that what I’m about aEUR’ when we’re unable to save a patientaEUR” is deliver some of the most devastating news any parent or loved one could ever hear.” It’s the worst part about my job.
He said that it is crucial to provide support for these families.
Sakran referred to the trauma experienced by witnesses, like Miah Cerrillo (11-year-old girl who survived the Uvalde school shooting in Texas by covering herself with blood of her classmates to play dead).
Doctors have had to deal with the trauma they had to treat.
Brown stated that it can be de-sensitizing. “I believe we are trying to protect ourselves against the emotional toll and moral injury that comes with treating patients every single day.
“I think that everyone tries to remember that this is a human being we are taking care of. He said that doing so can also hurt us.
Savitsky stated that finding ways to balance the good is an important part of the job.
He said, “You have to make a conscious effort towards finding balance in your life. You need to find other ways to restore yourself to a positive place mentally. It is difficult to see a lot of pain and suffering over time and not have that affect you as an individual.”
However, the pride that comes from saving lives is unmeasurable.
Brown stated, “When you see someone’s life saved, it is an amazing reward to watch them bounce back and start anew with another chance.”
