COL David R. King, MD, FACS- Trauma Surgeon Responds to the Boston Marathon Bombing and Provides and Innovates Surgical Critical Care for Special Operations and Civilian Trauma Patients.

WarDocs - The Military Medicine Podcast

In this episode you will hear how Dr. King walked into a Boston Army Recruiting Office and said “Hey, I’m a Doctor and I want to join the Army”, a very uncommon scenario in the recruiting world! He describes what drew him to a career in Trauma and Critical Care and how he was part of the initial discussions of developing an Army Trauma Training platform at Ryder Trauma Center in Miami.

He shares stories from his initial deployments on a Forward Surgical Team and working in a Combat Support Hospital in Iraq and how those experiences helped prepare him to care for casualties from the Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013 (after finishing the Marathon himself!). He shares some important lessons learned from that episode which he helped translate into common practice.

COL King has supported the US Army Joint Special Operations Command for more than 8 years and describes a remarkable case of a critically wounded Army Ranger that required surgical repair of bleeding within the chest cavity (trauma thoracotomy) during a cardiac arrest in the most austere of conditions. This intervention saved the Soldier’s life and allowed him to recover and later attend medical school.

Dr. King describes his research interests in stopping traumatic bleeding using novel technologies such as self-expanding foams and expanding the accessibility and familiarity with tourniquets within the EMS and civilian population.

He shares many insights and lessons learned over a distinguished career and provides some valuable advice for all listeners. You don’t want to miss this episode!

Find out more about Dr. King at wardocspodcast.com/guest-bios and visit our webpage and become part of Team WarDocs at wardocspodcast.com.

WarDocs- The Military Medicine Podcast is a Non-Profit, Tax-exempt-501(c)(3) Veteran Run Organization. All donations are tax-deductible, and 100% go to honoring and preserving the history, experiences, successes, and lessons learned in military medicine.

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