Assassination of John F. Kennedy Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Autopsy=== {{Main|John F. Kennedy autopsy}} {{quote box |bgcolor = MistyRose | width = 25em |align = right | quote = Where bungled autopsies are concerned, President Kennedy's is the exemplar. | source = — Dr. [[Michael Baden]], chairman of the forensic pathology panel of the [[United States House Select Committee on Assassinations|House Select Committee on Assassinations]]<ref name="Bugliosi 2007 p. 382">[[#Bugliosi2007|Bugliosi (2007)]], p. 382.</ref> | style = padding:1.5em | fontsize=85% }} President Kennedy's autopsy was performed at [[National Naval Medical Center|Bethesda Naval Hospital]] in [[Maryland]] on the night of November 22. Jacqueline Kennedy had selected a naval hospital as the postmortem site as President Kennedy had been a [[naval officer]] during World War II.<ref>[[#assoc|Associated Press (1963)]], pp. 29–31.</ref><ref>[[#Sabato|Sabato (2013)]], p. 22.</ref> The autopsy was conducted by three physicians: naval commanders James Humes and J. Thornton Boswell, with assistance from ballistics wound expert Pierre A. Finck; Humes led the procedure.<ref>[[#Bugliosi2007|Bugliosi (2007)]], pp. 139–140.</ref> Under pressure from the Kennedy family and White House staffers to expedite the procedure, the physicians conducted a "rushed" and incomplete autopsy.<ref>[[#Sabato|Sabato (2013)]], p. 213.</ref> Kennedy's personal physician, Rear Admiral George Burkley,<ref>[[#Bugliosi2007|Bugliosi (2007)]], pp. 137–138.</ref> signed a [[death certificate]] on November 23 and recorded that the [[cause of death]] was a gunshot wound to the skull.<ref name="amex">[[#Amex|"Oswald's Ghost". PBS]]</ref><ref>[[#Burkley|Burkley (1963)]]</ref> Three years after the autopsy, Kennedy's brain—which had been removed and preserved for later analysis—was found to be missing when the Kennedy family transferred material to the [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives]].<ref name="bug431">[[#Bugliosi2007|Bugliosi (2007)]], p. 431.</ref><ref name="brain"/> Conspiracy theorists often claim that the brain may have shown that the headshot entered from the front. Alternatively, the HSCA concluded that an assistant to Attorney General [[Robert F. Kennedy]], the president's brother, likely removed the footlocker holding the brain and other materials at his direction, and he "either destroyed these materials or otherwise rendered them inaccessible" to prevent "misuse" of said material<ref name="bug432">[[#Bugliosi2007|Bugliosi (2007)]], p. 432</ref> or to hide the extent of the [[John F. Kennedy#Health|president's chronic illnesses]] and consequent medication.<ref name="brain">[[#Saner|Saner (2013)]]</ref> Some autopsy X-rays and photographs have also been lost.<ref>[[#Kurtz|Kurtz (1982)]], p. 9.</ref> Most historians regard the autopsy as the "most botched" segment of the government's investigation.<ref name="Bugliosi 2007 p. 382"/> The HSCA forensic pathology panel concluded that the autopsy had "extensive failings", including failure to take sufficient photographs, failure to determine the exact exit or entry point of the head bullet, not dissecting the back and neck, and neglecting to determine the angles of gunshot injuries relative to [[body axis]].<ref>[[#Bugliosi2007|Bugliosi (2007)]], pp. 382–383.</ref> The panel further concluded that the two doctors were not qualified to have conducted a forensic autopsy. Panel member [[Milton Helpern]]—[[Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York|Chief Medical Examiner for New York City]]—said that selecting Humes (who had only taken a single course on forensic pathology) to lead the autopsy was "like sending a seven-year-old boy who has taken three lessons on the violin over to the [[New York Philharmonic]] and expecting him to perform a [[Tchaikovsky]] symphony".<ref>[[#Bugliosi2007|Bugliosi (2007)]], p. 384.</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page