'Life over limb' doctrine prevails for Navy surgeons behind Fallujah's frontlines (12/8/04)

'Life over limb' doctrine prevails for Navy surgeons behind Fallujah's frontlines
By Katarina Kratovac, Associated Press, 12/8/2004 13:59


NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) Doctors with Bravo Surgical Company known as the ''Cheaters of Death'' fight their own quiet battles every day against the horrifying wounds of war.

''These injuries we never see at home,'' said one of the surgeons, Dr. Matthew Camuso of Los Angeles. ''I mostly treated gunshot wounds and stabbing, but these injuries don't compare you just don't have people blown up back home.''

Dr. Michael Mazurek, an orthopedic surgeon and trauma specialist from Philadelphia, said he has seen ''some horrific injuries'' in the 90 days since coming to Iraq. ''The tremendous force of the IED can devastate a torso,'' he says, referring to a roadside bomb.

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