Dr.
CURTIS Volume VI
TESTIMONY
OF DR. DON TEEL CURTIS
The testimony of Dr. Don Teel Curtis was taken at 9:25 a.m., on March 24,
1964, at
Mr. SPECTER. Let the record show that present are Dr. Don Curtis and the
court reporter, in connection with the deposition proceeding being conducted by
the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, which is
inquiring into all facets of the assassination, including the medical treatment
performed for President Kennedy.
Dr. Don Curtis is appearing here this morning in response to a letter
requesting him to testify concerning his knowledge of that medical treatment of
President Kennedy. With that
preliminary statement of the general objective of the Commission and the
specific objective of this deposition proceeding, Dr. Curtis, will you rise and
raise your right hand, please?
Do you solemnly swear the testimony you give before this Presidential
Commission in this deposition proceeding will be the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth, so help you God ?
Dr. CURTIS. I do.
Mr. SPECTER Would you state your full name for the record, please?
Dr. CURTIS. 'Dr. Don Teel, T-e-e-l (spelling) Curtis.
Mr. SPECTER. And what is your occupation or profession?
Dr. CURTIS. Oral surgeon.
Mr. SPECTER Would you outline briefly your educational background?
Dr. CURTIS. I attended my freshman year at
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Mr. SPECTER. What year did you graduate from
Dr. CURTIS. 1962.
Mr. SPECTER. What is your age at the present time?
Dr. CURTIS. Twenty-six.
Mr. SPECTER. And what has your work consisted of here at
Dr. CURTIS. I have functioned as an intern in oral surgery and also now
am a resident this year in oral surgery.
Mr. SPECTER. Are you a licensed dentist?
Dr. CURTIS. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. And when did you obtain that status in the State of
Dr. CURTIS. I think in August of 1962.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you have occasion to assist in the medical treatment of
President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963 ?
Dr. CURTIS. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER Would you outline briefly the circumstances surrounding your
call or your joining in the participation in that medical effort?
Dr. CURTIS. I was--do you want me to tell from the time that I got to the
emergency room ?
Mr. SPECTER. Yes--how did you happen to get to the emergency room?
Dr. CURTIS. I was in our out-patient clinic and saw the President's car,
or I saw that it had arrived at the emergency room entrance, and I went over
there as a matter of curiosity and was directed into the emergency room and
there was directed by a policeman into the room where President Kennedy was.
Mr. SPECTER. About what time
was that?
Dr. CURTIS. I don't know--it
was shortly after he arrived.
Mr. SPECTER.. Approximately
how long after he arrived?
Dr. CURTIS. I would say it
was within--I would say within a minute after he arrived at the trauma room,
although there's no way for me to know that.
Mr. SPECTER. Who was present in the trauma room at that time?
Dr. CURTIS. Dr. Carrico and a nurse, I believe.
Mr. SPECTER. Do you know the identity of the nurse?
Dr. CURTIS. No.
Mr. SPECTER. What did you observe, if anything, as to the condition of
President Kennedy at that time?
Dr. CURTIS. I observed that he was in a supine position, with his head
extended, and I couldn't see on my arrival--I couldn't see the nature of the
wounds, however, Dr. Carrico was standing at the patient's head. Dr. Carrico had
just placed an endotracheal tube and I participated in applying the Bird machine
respirator into the endotracheal tube for artificial respiration.
Mr. SPECTER How does it happen that you would participate to that effect
in view of the fact that you are an oral surgeon?
Dr. CURTIS. We participate in the emergency room on traumatic injuries of
both the face and the entire patient, because the face is hooked onto a
patient. We have a tour through anesthesia.
We spend time on general anesthesia where we learn management of the
patient's airway which makes us, I would say, qualified, for airway management.
In our training here at the hospital we many, many times have patients on
intravenous infusion and so we are well acquainted with the procedures attendant
with the management of I.V. fluids.
Mr. SPECTER Is there always someone from oral surgery available at the
trauma area?
Dr. CURTIS. One of the oral surgeons is on call at the emergency room at
all times and we try to stay within a very short distance from the emergency
room. We see many patients in the emergency room area.
Mr. SPECTER. Is that for the purpose of rendering aid for someone who
would
be
injured in a way which would call for an oral surgeon ?
Dr. CURTIS. Yes--maxillofacial injuries.
Mr. SPECTER. And in addition, you help out in a general way when there is
an emergency situation?
Dr. CURTIS. Yes.
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Mr. SPECTER. Now, was there anything in President Kennedy's condition
which called for the application of your specific specialty?
Dr. CURTIS. No; there wasn't.
Mr. SPECTER.. So, you aided
in a general way in the treatment of him as an emergency case?
Dr. CURTIS. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. Now, would you
continue to tell me what you have observed with respect to his condition when
you first saw him, including what you noted, if anything, with respect to his
respiration.
Dr. CURTIS. It is very difficult to say whether or not the President was
making a respiratory effort, but I'm not sure that he wasn't making a
respiratory effort.
Mr. SPECTER. Do you think that he was making a respiratory effort?
Dr. CURTIS. He could have been, and that's as far as I can go on it.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you observe movements of the chest?
Dr. CURTIS. I thought I did.
Mr. SPECTER. What was his coloring?
Dr. CURTIS. He was pink--he wasn't cyanotic when I saw him.
Mr. SPECTER. And will you explain in lay terms what cyanotic means for
the record at this point?
Dr. CURTIS. When the hemoglobin of the blood is reduced, it turns a blue
color and the patient becomes blue, when a certain percentage of the hemoglobin
is reduced. That's not a lay term
either, but when the patient is in oxygen need or oxygen want, cyanosis would be
apparent.
Mr. SPECTER. And how does that manifest itself in the patient?
Dr. CURTIS. The patient will be a blue, gray, ashen color.
Mr. SPECTER. What action was Dr. Carrico taking upon your arrival?
Dr. CURTIS. He had placed an endotracheal tube in the President's trachea
for artificial respiration.
Mr. SPECTER. Was he doing anything else?
Dr. CURTIS. Yes; he was applying the Bird machine.
Mr. SPECTER. Will you describe what other steps he was taking, if any?
Dr. CURTIS. He directed, that a tracheotomy setup be brought to the
emergency room, and I think it was Dr. Carrico directed me to start the I.V.
fluids.
Mr. SPECTER. And what, if anything, did you do in response to his
direction ?
Dr. CURTIS. I assisted him in fitting the tube from the Bird machine to
the endotracheal tube and I assisted in removing some of the President's clothes
and did the cutdown on his leg.
Mr. SPECTER. And what, specifically, did you do pursuant to the cutdown
on his leg?
Dr. CURTIS. A small incision was made on the ankle and a vein is bluntly
dissected free, small holes placed in the vein and a venous catheter is placed
in this vein and a purse string ligature is then tied around the catheter at one
end, and then the wound was closed with sutures.
Mr. SPECTER. Now, did you do anything else to the President following
that operative procedure?
Dr. CURTIS. Then, the initial cutdown that I started was ineffective and,
infiltrated into the tissues. I think possibly I cut the knot too close of the
purse string ligature, so I was getting ready to do another one and it was
decided since fluids were going in the other leg, it wouldn't be necessary.
Mr. SPECTER. What other action did you take, if any, in the treatment of
the President?
Dr. CURTIS. That's all.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you remain in the trauma room No. 1 ?
Dr. CURTIS. I did until he was pronounced dead.
Mr. SPECTER. What action was taken by anyone else in the trauma room
while you were there ?
Dr. CURTIS. My attention was focused on what I was doing, so I wasn't
aware--I knew that a cutdown was being performed and that is about all I could
see. I mean, I knew that a
tracheotomy was being performed.
Mr. SPECTER. What other doctors were present there at that time?
Dr. CURTIS. I know that Dr. Perry was there and I know Dr. Baxter was
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there,
and then I recall Dr. Jenkins from the Anesthesia Department, and Dr. Seldin,
Dr. Crenshaw, and that's about all the doctors--I could think of others
probably, but I can't remember now.
Mr. SPECTER. Can you identify any other nurses who were there?
Dr. CURTIS. No; I can't--I wasn't paying attention to the nurses.
Mr. SPECTER. During the course of your presence near President Kennedy,
did you have any opportunity to observe any wounds on his body?
Dr. CURTIS. After I had completed the cutdown, I went around to the right
side of the patient and saw the head wound.
Mr. SPECTER. And what did you observe there?
Dr. CURTIS. Oh--fragments of bone and a gross injury to the cranial
contents, with copious amounts of hemorrhage.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you observe any other wound on the President ?
Dr. CURTIS. No; I didn't. As I said before, I noticed the mass in the
pretracheal area.
Mr. SPECTER And when you say "as you said before," you mean in
our previous discussions prior to going on the record here?
Dr. CURTIS. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. And will you state now for the record what you did notice
with respect to the tracheal area ?
Dr. CURTIS. The President's head was extended or hyperextended and I
noticed that in the superasternal notch there was a mass that looked like a
hematoma to me, or a blood clot in the tissues.
Mr. SPECTER. How big was that hematoma?
Dr. CURTIS. Oh, I think it was 5 cm. in size.
Mr. SPECTER. What color was it?
Dr. CURTIS. It had no color--there was just skin overlying it.
Mr. SPECTER. What did it appear to be?
Dr. CURTIS. Probably a hematoma.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you observe any perforation or hole in the President's
throat?
Dr. CURTIS. No; I didn't. But
that doesn't mean it wasn't there.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you have an opportunity to look closely for it?
Dr. CURTIS. I focused my attention on his neck for an instant, and that's
all.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you hear any discussion among any of the doctors about
an opening on his neck ?
Dr. CURTIS. No; I didn't.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you make any written report concerning your activity on
the President?
Dr. CURTIS. No; I didn't.
Mr. SPECTER. Have you any notes or writings of any sort concerning your
work with the President?
Dr. CURTIS. No.
Mr. SPECTER. Have you talked to any representatives of the Federal
Government about your participation in treating President Kennedy before today?
Dr. CURTIS. No; I haven't.
Mr. SPECTER. Prior to the time that we went on the record here with the
court reporter, did you and I have a very brief conversation concerning the
purpose of the deposition and the general questions which I would ask you on the
record?
Dr. CURTIS. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. And is the information which you have provided on the record
the same as that which you gave me before the court reporter started taking
notes ?
Dr. CURTIS. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER Do you have anything to add which you think would be helpful
to the Commission in its work?
Dr. CURTIS. No; I don't think so.'
Mr. SPECTER. Thank you very much, Dr. Curtis, for coming here today.
Dr. CURTIS. All right
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