Dr. J. Thornon Boswell This is Me

Education

 Web References

1. 1. HSCV 7 FPP

   jfkassassination.net/russ/jfki - [Cached]

   Published on: 3/8/2004   Last Visited: 9/9/2005

   James J. Humes and J. Thornton Boswell, who had performed the autopsy on Nov. 22, 1963, and with Dr. J. Lawrence Angel, a forensic anthropologist with the Smithsonian Institution, to discuss the procedures followed during President Kennedy's autopsy and the degree of fragmentation of the President's skull.
   ...
   On Sept. 22, 1977, the second subpanel was afforded the opportunity to hear the tape recording of the interview of Drs. Humes and Boswell conducted by the first subpanel.
   ...
   Drs. Humes, Finck, and Boswell, and the radiologist assisting with the examination, Dr. Ebersole.
   ...
   James J. Humes, J. Thornton Boswell, and Pierre A. Finck, localized and characterized the wound in the right upper back:
   ...
   The panel was concerned about the apparent disparity between the localization of the wound in the photographs and X-rays and in the autopsy report, and sought to clarify this discrepancy by interviewing the three pathologists, Drs. Humes, Boswell, and Finck, and the radiologist, Dr. Ebersole.
   ...
   FIGURE 22. --Photograph of the posterior view of a human skull on which the autopsy pathologists, Drs. Humes, Boswell, and Finck, identified the approximate location of the entrance wound.
   ...
   The two initialed circles on the lower portion of the skull and to the right of the midline represent the general area where the autopsy doctors believe the entrance wound to be. (There arc two circles because Dr. Finck marked the skull independent of Drs. Humes and Boswell, and without knowing where Drs. Humes and Boswell had placed their circle.) The circle on the top portion of the skull and to the right of the midline represents the general area where the forensic pathology panel believes the entrance to be. (The fourth circle on the lower portion of the skull and approximately on the midline represents the location of the external occipital protuberance. )
   ...
   Drs. Ebersole, Finck, and Boswell offered no explanation for the upper wound, while Dr. Humes first suggested that it might represent an extension of a more anterior scalp laceration, incident to the exit wound, in spite of the fact that within the photograph the margins of the wound appear to be intact around the entire circumference.
   ...
   These were recorded in the autopsy report prepared by Drs. Humes, Finck and Boswell as follows:
   ...
   The panel believes that the difficulty which Drs. Humes, Finck, and Boswell experienced in trying to place a soft probe through the bullet pathway in President Kennedy's neck probably resulted from their failure or inability to manipulate this portion of the body into the same position it was in when the missile penetrated.
   ...
   The members of the forensic pathology panel were asked to comment on the post mortem examination conducted by the pathologists, Dr. Humes, Boswell, and Finck, including the procedure and the rport prepared afterwards.
   ...
   According to a summary report prepared by Drs. Humes, Boswell, and Finck pursuant to requests by the Department of Justice following a meeting on January 20, 1967, at the office of Dr. Robert II.
   ...
   Assisting him were J. Thornton Boswell, M.D., and Pierre A. Finck, M.D.
   ...
   Dr. Boswell at that time was a commander in the Medical Corps, U.S. Navy, and Chief of Pathology, Naval Medical School. He was certified in 1957 by the American Board of Pathology in anatomic and clinical pathology.
   ...
   Humes, Boswell, and Finck, the three prosectors, signed the autopsy report in the office of Admiral Galloway. (I had suggested several corrections in the autopsy report,.
   ...
   I also wish to point out for the record that a meeting was between subpanel 1 of the FPP and Drs. Humes and Boswell in Washington. D.C., during the time of their first meeting in September no question in my mind that this meeting was arranged by the HSCA staff and members of the FPP at that time in order to exclude me from participating in the discussion and interrogation of Humes and Boswell (two of the three pathologists who performed the autopsy on JFK on November 22, 1963).

2. 2. The President's autopsy: Oliver Stone's JFK: The JFK 100: JFK assassination investigation: Jim Garrison New Orleans investigation of the John F. Kennedy assassination

   www.jfk-online.com/jfk100autop - [Cached]

   Published on: 6/30/2006   Last Visited: 2/2/2008

   Dr. J. Thornon Boswell was Bethesda's Chief of Pathology. On the afternoon of November 22nd, he was going over autopsy slides with pathology residents when he received a similar call. Like Humes, Boswell was informed that the president's autopsy was to be performed at Bethesda. In 1992, Boswell gave a rare interview to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), in which he described his reaction:
   
   I argued, "That's stupid. The autopsy should be done at AFIP [five miles away at Walter Reed Army Medical Center]."
   ...
   They [Boswell and Humes] were not allowed to do that . . . Robert [Kennedy] was really limiting the autopsy . . . We had to get permission all the time from Mrs. Kennedy to proceed with the autopsy . . . Jim [Humes] and Jay [Boswell] were really handicapped that night with regards to performing the autopsy . . . I think it was as complete as they were allowed to do.
   ...
   They [Boswell and Humes] were not allowed to do that . . . Robert [Kennedy] was really limiting the autopsy . . . We had to get permission all the time from Mrs. Kennedy to proceed with the autopsy . . . Jim [Humes] and Jay [Boswell] were really handicapped that night with regards to performing the autopsy . . . I think it was as complete as they were allowed to do.
   ...
   Asked the same question, Dr. Humes answered, "I am not prepared to answer this question now . . . At some time in the near future, Jay [Boswell] and I will have to sit down and write for history our report on the condition of the President's adrenal glands."
   ...
   In 1996, Boswell admitted to the Assassinations Record Review Board that Humes in fact promised the Kennedy family attorney, Burke Marshall, "that we would not discuss the adrenals until all the members of the Kennedy family were dead."
   ...
   Much of the controversy that would later surround the JFK autopsy focused on the competence of Drs. Humes and Boswell.
   ...
   There is a fundamental difference between a pathological autopsy (as performed by Humes and Boswell) and a legal-forensic autopsy performed in murder cases.
   ...
   Although Humes and Boswell determined the cause of death, a bullet to JFK's head, they were not precise enough for medical-legal standards -- which they weren't told to consider. (In truth, the doctors should have been prescient enough to undertake this type of autopsy without being so directed.) As a result, the President's head was not shaved, and the brain not sectioned.