Subject: Administering “polygal” after amputation of the thigh of
a 40-year-old male patient.
To: Stabsarzt Dr. Rascher
Dachau
On 10 December 1943 the effectiveness of “polygal” in the case of the amputation of the thigh was tested. The drug was administered per os 45 minutes before the operation and was placed in the patient’s mouth to be dissolved. A blood transfusion of 500 cc. had been made the previous day in preparation for the operation. Blood pressure on the day of the operation was 180/80.
As regards the effectiveness of “polygal” one can say that it was absolutely evident how little the tissues bled. After the first rush of blood from the vessels which had been cut, when completely emptied of blood no more bleeding occurred after this first flow of accumulated blood, so that it was not necessary to apply any ligatures to the surface of the muscles and the fatty tissues, or the subcutaneous tissues, as had always been the case with other amputations. The effectiveness of “polygal” must in this case be described as complete.
By order:
[Signed] Dr. Kahr
SS Obersturmfuehrer
The First Camp Physician, Concentration Camp Dachau