New technology and medical practices save lives in Iraq (12/17/03)

Posted on Wed, Dec. 17, 2003
New technology and medical practices save lives in Iraq
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/nation/7511929.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
BY ALAN BAVLEY
Knight Ridder Newspapers

FORT RILEY, Kan. - (KRT) - When a rocket-propelled grenade hit Sgt. Patrick Brown's Humvee in Iraq, he survived thanks to a new protective vest.

But he wasn't unscathed.

Shrapnel from that blast on a Baghdad street tore through Brown and four members of his platoon, inflicting deep, gaping wounds.

Doctors and soldiers credit new technology like improved body armor, helmets and even goggles with saving American lives in Iraq. New ways of using medical personnel - deploying well-equipped surgical teams closer to combat, for example - mean injured soldiers are getting attention quickly.


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