/internal/media/dispatcher/33097/fullDr. Malcolm Perry's Statement of Activities11/22/196311 × 8 1/2 in. (27.9 × 21.6 cm)PaperParkland Hospital Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza1994.001.0009.00020Original 2 page handwritten summary statement by Dr. Malcolm O. Perry at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas dated Friday, November 22, 1963. This is a summary statement that describes what Dr. Perry did and saw in the Parkland Hospital emergency room during the treatment of President John F. Kennedy. He performed a tracheotomy on the president's neck by cutting an opening through a bullet exit wound just below the Adam's apple. The statement is handwritten in blue (possibly discolored black) ink on the front and back of an Admission Note form. There are also 2 two-page copies of this document that were previously stapled.
The statement reads:
"JF Kennedy- / 22 Nov 1963 / PERRY
Staff Notes-
At the time of initial examination, the pt. was noted to non-responsive. His eyes were [?] and the pupils dilated. A considerable quantity of blood was noted on the patient, the carriage and the floor. A small wound was noted in the midline of the neck, in the lower third anteriorly(?). It was exuding(?) blood slowly. A large wound of the right posterior cranium was noted, exposing severely lacerated brain. Brain tissue was noted in the blood at the head of the carriage.
Pulse or heart beat were not detectable, but slow spasmodic respiration was noted. An endotracheal tube was in[?] and respiration was being assisted. An intravenous infusion was being placed in the leg.
At this point I noted that respiration was ineffective(?) and while additional venesections were done to administer fluids + blood, a tracheotomy was effected. A right lateral injury to the trachea was noted. The tracheotomy tube was put in place and the cuff(?) inflated and respirations assisted. Closed chest cardiac massage was [?] after placement of sealed - drainage chest tubes, but without benefit. Electrocardigraphic evaluation revealed that no detectable electrical(?) activity existed in the heart. Resuscitative attempts were abandoned after the team of physicians determined that the patient had expired.
Malcolm O. Perry, M.D. [signature]
1630 hr. 22 Nov 1963"Documents6373821.590043180127.94005588015135DocumentTwo-page document handwritten by Dr. Malcolm Perry less than four hours after the 12:30 p.m. shooting of President Kennedy. Dr. Perry was the among the doctors who played an active role in the treatment of President Kennedy. He performed a tracheotomy on the president's neck by cutting an opening through a bullet exit hole just below the Adam's apple.
Emergency careEmergency roomMedical notesKennedy, John F.Perry, Malcolm O.Parkland HospitalDallasAmong the Parkland Memorial Hospital doctors in Trauma Room One on November 22, 1963, Dr. Malcolm O. Perry (1929-2009) was probably the most reluctant to share his experiences beyond a couple of initial press interviews immediately after the assassination and his formal testimony before both the Warren Commission in 1964 and the Assassination Records Review Board in 1998. He frequently turned down (or simply ignored) book interviews, documentary requests and several invitations to participate in the Museum's Oral History Project. I once had the chance to meet Dr. Perry while visiting another Parkland physician, the late Robert McClelland, at his office in 2001. Perry was headed out, while I was headed in. We met, and he very cordially shook hands with me. However, upon learning that I was from The Sixth Floor Museum and there to record an interview with Dr. McClelland, Dr. Perry's friendly demeanor changed, and he very quickly excused himself. "Malcolm never wanted to talk about it," Dr. McClelland recalled shortly after Perry's death in 2009. "I think he had a bad experience with the press right after, and I think that may have colored his lack of willingness to talk."
Dr. Perry's "bad experience" stemmed from the controversy surrounding initial comments that he made shortly after the assassination, when he stated that the small wound near President Kennedy's Adam's apple may have been an entry wound (suggesting a shot from the front, the grassy knoll area). This was complicated by the fact that Perry had enlarged the existing wound in order to insert a breathing tube into the president's trachea, a detail which the autopsy doctors did not know at the time they examined the president's body late that night at Bethesda Naval Center. Perry later changed his mind and testified to the Warren Commission that the bullet hole he enlarged was likely an exit wound, supporting the lone gunman theory, but for many researchers, his initial statement remains proof of a second gunman in Dealey Plaza. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator