Medicine: Burned Alive

A U.S. sailor has come closer to being burned alive than anybody who has ever survived. Last week the Naval Medical Bulletin reported that flaming gasoline had burned 83% of the body surface of a 19-year-old sailor.

He was saved by liberal use of blood plasma and careful artificial regulation of blood composition and pressure to keep him going until his skin envelope could function again. The only burn dressing was gauze smeared with vaseline. The man was back on duty three months after the accident.

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