At this point when they told me a cardiac arrest had occurred as a result of the hemorrhage and blood loss I took a knife and opened the left chest in the fourth interspace and reached in to massage his heart, and the heart was flabby, and dilated, and apparently contained very little blood.
I began to massage the heart, to maintain it as we infused the blood and was able to obtain a palpable pulse in the carotid vessels going to the neck and into the head. We were unable to get the heart to go, and it began to fibrillate which is an uncoordinated motion of the muscles of the heart itself and the successive electrical shocks were applied with the defibrillator and to stimulate heart action, and we failed in this and the cardiac pacemaker was sewn in place, and it was handed to me by the thoracic surgery resident, and I sewed it into the heart to artificially induce heart action, this also was without benefit.
We were never able to restore effective heart action and then Dr. Jenkins informed as neurologically he was not responding, that his reflexes were gone, and he felt that he had expired.
Mr. Specter. At approximately what time did that occur?
Dr. Perry. I don't know, Mr. Specter, I would have to look at the record.
Mr. Specter. At approximately how long after he arrived at the hospital did that occur?
Dr. Perry. I don't know that, either.
Mr. Specter. Can you approximate the length of time of the operation itself?
Dr. Perry. 45 minutes or so, I would say.
Mr. Specter. Is there any question but that he was alive during the course of your operative procedures?