Originally Posted By: hikermor
One has to wonder, in view of the massive casualties in Waco and Boston, if at some point it wasn't necessary to resort to improvised Ts?

Several acconts in the media referred to people in Boston using belts and other items to improvise tourniquets. From the New York Times article "Doctors Saved Lives, if Not Legs, in Boston":

Quote:
Dr. Allan Panter, 57, an emergency-room physician from Gainesville, Ga., was standing 10 yards from the blast near the finish line, waiting for his wife, Theresa, to complete her 16th Boston Marathon. Assisted by others, he said he used gauze wraps to apply tourniquets to several victims, including a man who appeared to be in his late 20s who lost both of his lower legs in the blast. He said he saw another six or seven victims with belts tied around their wounded legs.

The organizers of the Boston Marathon deserve great credit for being prepared. On some other forums it has been noted that because of the huge number of racers and spectators involved they always treat this event as a Mass Casualty Incident in their pre-race preparations, with a large medical presence standing by. While the preparations were in expectation of heat exhaustion, heat stroke, dehydration, etc, they quickly transitioned to handling trauma. They also had a robust ICS structure in place to run the event. All that paid off when the unexpected occured.
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