The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that, according to a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine, the mortality rate for American soldiers wounded in Iraq, approximately 10 percent, is substantially less than the mortality rate for soldiers wounded in the first Gulf War (20 percent) and Vietnam (30 percent).
Along with heavy body armor, the L.A. Times report attributes the lower mortality rate to more experienced military doctors and “quicker medical evacuations, improved emergency room instruments and new surgical approaches.” One example the Times cites of a new surgical approach is “damage control surgery,” which aims to “stop bleeding, clean wounds to fight infection and treat the patient for shock,” leaving more invasive surgery until the patient has rested and has a better chance of surviving the surgery.
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