Parkland physician testifies wounds inconsistent with lone-gunman theory, describes resuscitation efforts

Dr. Don Curtis, a resident in oral and facial surgery at Parkland Memorial Hospital on Nov. 22, 1963, testified March 18, 2025, to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform’s Task Force on Declassification of Federal Secrets about the resuscitation efforts and wounds he observed when President John F. Kennedy arrived at Parkland.

Curtis described being pulled into Trauma Room 1, where he saw President Kennedy on a gurney, an endotracheal tube in place and staff attempting respiratory support with a resuscitator. He testified that a tracheostomy was performed and that a separate procedure (a saphenous vein cutdown) was done to obtain rapid intravenous access. "The president had heart had stopped or it wasn't running," Curtis testified in the hearing.

Curtis told the task force he observed two separate, fatal wounds: a throat wound that obstructed the trachea and a massive head wound that removed a substantial portion of the cranial vault. He said the throat wound would have prevented breathing and that the head wound "would have killed him instantly." He rejected the Warren Commission's single-bullet interpretation as inconsistent with what he saw on the gurney and later in the autopsy-related documentation he described. "The magic bullet was a product of the Warren Commission that... doesn't make any sense," Curtis said during his opening testimony.

Under questioning by members of the task force, Curtis said he never was deposed by the Warren Commission prior to that panel's report and described an uncomfortable encounter with a Warren Commission staff member during a later interview. He told the committee he felt pressure during that encounter and that the Warren Commission’s line of questioning emphasized the existence of an exit wound—which Curtis said he did not observe.

Curtis described the chaotic resuscitation scene in detail: use of an intermittent positive pressure respirator set at very high rates, placement of a tracheostomy by another physician, external cardiac massage, and a final assessment by surgical chiefs who concluded the wounds were not compatible with life. He said staff later warned him not to discuss the events among themselves.

Curtis's account aligns with other testimony taken before the Assassination Records Review Board and with depositions the ARRB later collected from treating physicians; however, he did not present any new forensic materials himself at the hearing. He and other witnesses cautioned that gaps in the documentary record and missing or redacted autopsy materials complicate any definitive medical reconstruction of the shooting.

The task force did not make any medical findings. Members said Curtis’s testimony would be entered into the hearing record and that staff would compare his account against the newly released records and other archived evidence. The task force accepted further written submissions from witnesses and invited additional material relevant to the medical evidence.