(Circulation. 2001;104:e9030.)
© 2001 American Heart Association, Inc.
Physicians, Nurses, Paramedics, Medics, and Hospitals Respond to Tragedies in New York and DC
Circulation Newswriter
Hospitals in the New York City area and nearby New Jersey and Connecticut treated almost 6000 patients in the wake of the September 11, 2001, World Trade Center tragedy. Almost all the patients were those who could escape the two 110-story towers before the towers collapsed or were rescuers injured while trying to find survivors. An estimated 5000 people died in the World Trade Center tragedy, including the passengers on the 2 passenger jets used as flying bombs to destroy the buildings. In Washington, DC, where another hijacked plane ploughed into the Pentagon, it is thought that >180 people died, including those on the aircraft.
In each instance, the outpouring of concern and volunteers to help in the search, rescue, and treatment of patients was overwhelming. Edward Bessman, MD, chairman of emergency medicine at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, was part of an urban search and rescue task force that was assembled on the scene at the Pentagon at 3 PM on Tuesday, September 11. "Our role is to enter the collapsed structure, identify victims, and extricate them," said Dr Bessman.
However, "It became apparent early on that if an individual was not able to get out of the building, he or she succumbed to the fire and smoke," said Dr Bessman. Although the structural damage to the building was confined and in some ways seemed to be less than that to the federal building in Oklahoma City (which was destroyed by a bomb set by domestic terrorists), "the situation