Robert N. McClelland

Robert Nelson McClelland (November 20, 1929 – September 10, 2019) was an American surgeon. On November 22, 1963, he worked unsuccessfully to save the life of U.S. President John F. Kennedy after he was fatally shot, and two days later, the life of Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.

Early life and education

Robert Nelson McClelland was born on November 20, 1929, in Gilmer, Texas. His father, Robert, was a butcher, and his mother, Verna McClelland née Nelson, worked for a federal relief agency.^[1] He graduated from University of Texas at Austin in 1950 and University of Texas Medical Branch in 1954.^[2]

Career

McClelland was a medical officer in the United States Air Force for two years^[1] and was stationed overseas in Germany for a time. After completing a residency at Parkland Memorial Hospital, he was hired as a faculty member at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. His specialty was in surgery related to the liver, pancreas, and biliary tract.^[3]

In 1974, McClelland created and was the first editor for the very successful Selected Readings in General Surgery, aiming to present to students and surgeons the most useful of medical-journal articles, now published by the American College of Surgeons.^[3][2][4] After 45 years on the faculty at Southwestern Medical Center, McClelland retired in August 2007. In September 2007, he was appointed Professor Emeritus of Surgery at the UT Southwestern Medical Center, remaining involved in medical-student education.^[5]

Assassination of John F. Kennedy and aftermath

On November 22, 1963, McClelland was working at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas, when President John F. Kennedy was brought in grievously injured. Despite the efforts of the three attending surgeons, McClelland, Malcolm Perry, and Charles R. Baxter,^[6] he died shortly after arriving.^[2] McClelland was the only member of Kennedy's surgical team who supported the idea that Kennedy had been shot from the front, thus the idea that there was a second gunman.^[6]

Two days later, McClelland saw on the news that Kennedy's assassin Lee Harvey Oswald had been shot. McClelland immediately went back to the hospital. Along with Tom Shires, McClelland worked unsuccessfully to save Oswald's life, as he was pronounced dead two hours after being shot.^[2] McClelland preserved his blood-stained shirt from attempting to save President Kennedy for the rest of his life. McClelland said in 2013 that the gunshot wound that killed John F. Kennedy would still be fatal today, he was the one who witnessed the president's final breaths. "With half of his brain gone and his cerebellum falling out, there's no way he could have survived then or now," said Dr. Robert McClelland, professor emeritus at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. McClelland, 83, was a general surgeon at Parkland Memorial Hospital when Kennedy arrived with an elevator-full of secret service men and his frantic wife, Jacqueline. The president was alive at the time. His pulse still sending waves across an electrocardiogram monitor wired to his chest.

"He was even making gasping attempts to breathe," said McClelland, who turned 34 two days before the assassination on Nov. 22, 1963.

Standing over the president's gurney in trauma room 1, McClelland saw firsthand the extent of Kennedy's injuries.

"I could actually look down inside his skull," he said, recalling how the back of the president's right cerebral hemisphere was "completely missing." Kennedy's cerebellum -- the fist-sized lobe at the back of the brain that controls balance -- was initially intact, but soon "fell out of the gaping hole in his skull" onto the gurney.

"He had an absolutely fatal injury," McClelland said.

Kennedy's heart kept pumping for 10 minutes after he arrived at trauma room 1, according to McClelland.

"The heart pretty much works on its own," he said, explaining how the "intrinsically activated" organ can keep pumping without much input from the brain. "Breathing, of course, is more dependent. But [Kennedy] had enough of the lower part of his brain. The brainstem and medulla above the spinal cord was intact enough for him still make attempts to breathe."

Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1 p.m. CST, 30 minutes after he was shot.^[6]

Personal life and death

McClelland married Connie Logan in May 1958. She was the head nurse at Parkland Memorial Hospital, and the two also attended the same church.^[6] They had two daughters and a son.^[1] McClelland enjoyed reading, and insisted on having a bookcase in every room of his house.^[6]

McClelland died from kidney failure on September 10, 2019, at an assisted living facility in Dallas. He was 89.^[1]

Honors

In 1990, McClelland became the namesake for the Parkland Surgical Society's Robert N. McClelland Lectureship.^[7]

References