John F Kennedy Autopsy Report Death Certificate Will X-rays and Images

[mark_2000]

The autopsy of President John F. Kennedy was performed, beginning at about 8 p.m. EST November 22, 1963, on the day of his assassination and ending at about 12:30 AM EST November 23, 1963, at the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. The choice of autopsy hospital in the Washington, D.C. area was made by his widow, Jacqueline Kennedy. She chose the Bethesda Naval Hospital because President Kennedy had been a naval officer.

Kennedy's personal physician, Rear Admiral George Gregory Burkley, signed a death certificate on November 23 and noted the cause of death as "Gunshot wound, skull". Buckley described the head wound as "shattering in type causing a fragmentation of the skull and evulsion of three particles of the skull at time of the impact, with resulting maceration of the right hemisphere of the brain.[7] He also noted "a second wound occurred in the posterior back at about the level of the third thoracic vertebra". A second certificate of death, signed on December 6 by Theron Ward, a Justice of the Peace in Dallas County, stated that Kennedy "came to his death as a result of two gunshot wounds (1) near the center of the body and just above the right shoulder, and (2) 1 inch to the right center of the back of the head."


1. 1 The Bethesda autopsy physicians attempted to probe the bullet hole in the base of Kennedy's neck above the scapula, but were unsuccessful as it passed through neck strap muscle. They did not perform a full dissection or persist in tracking, as throughout the autopsy, they were unaware of the exit wound, at the front of the throat. Emergency room physicians had obscured it when they performed the tracheotomy.
2. At Bethesda, the autopsy report of the president, Warren Exhibit CE 387[9] described the back wound as being oval, 6 by 4 millimetres (0.24*in ×*0.16*in), and located "above the upper border of the scapula" (shoulder blade) at a location 14 centimetres (5.5*in) from the tip of the right acromion process, and 14 centimetres (5.5*in) below the right mastoid process (the bony prominence behind the ear).
4. The concluding page of the Bethesda autopsy report, states: "The other missile [the bullet to the back] entered the right superior posterior thorax above the scapula, and traversed the soft tissues of the supra-scapular and the supra-clavicular portions of the base of the right side of the neck."
5. The report also reported contusion (bruise) of the apex (top tip) of the right lung in the region where it rises above the clavicle, and noted that although the apex of the right lung and the parietal pleural membrane over it had been bruised, they were not penetrated, indicating passage of a missile close to them, but above them.
6. The report noted that the thoracic cavity was not penetrated.
7. This missile produced contusions of the right apical parietal pleura and of the apical portion of the right upper lobe of the lung. The missile contused the strap muscles of the right side of the neck, damaged the trachea, and made its exit through the anterior surface of the neck.
9. The single bullet of the Warren Commission Report places a bullet wound at the sixth cervical vertebra (C6) of the vertebral column, which is consistent with 5.5 inches (14*cm) below the ear. The Warren Report itself does not conclude bullet entry at the sixth cervical vertebra, but this conclusion was made in a 1979 report on the Kennedy assassination by the HSCA, which noted a defect in the C6 vertebra in the Bethesda X-rays, which the Bethesda autopsy physicians had missed, and did not note. The X-rays were taken by Commander John H. Ebersole, Medical Corps, US Navy.
10.
Even without this information, the original Bethesda autopsy report, included in the Warren Commission report, concluded that this bullet had passed entirely through the president's neck, from a level over the top of the scapula and lung (and the parietal pleura over the top of the lung), and through the lower throat.

1. The wound to the back of the head is described by the Bethesda autopsy as being a laceration measuring 15 by 6 millimetres (0.59*in ×*0.24*in), situated to the right and slightly above the external occipital protuberance. In the underlying bone is a corresponding wound through the skull showing beveling (a cone-shaped widening) of the margins of the bone when viewed from the interior of the skull.[10]
2. The large, irregularly shaped defect in the right side of the head (chiefly to the parietal bone, but also involving the temporal and occipital bone) is described as being about 13 centimetres (5.1*in) wide at the largest diameter.[10]
3. Three fragments of skull bone were received as separate specimens, roughly corresponding to the dimensions of the large defect. In the largest of the fragments is a portion of the perimeter of a roughly circular wound presumably of exit, exhibiting beveling of the exterior of the bone, and measuring about 2.5 to 3.0 centimetres (0.98 to 1.18*in). X-rays revealed minute particles of metal in the bone at this margin.[10]
4. Minute fragments of the projectile were found by X-ray along a path from the rear wound to the parietal area defect.

[mark_2000]

Some morgue images.

[jinxmap]

Sorry, where is the will?

[mark_2000]

Image 10 just under death certificate.

[Pyramid_Head]

Amazing photos, thanks!

[UrnAsh]

Great set, thanks!

[kellyhound]

Wonder if Trump allows the full release of the last docs tomorrow about JFK.

[Ninjavandal]

Ah yes, the largely fraudulent autopsy report having to do with JFK. Legendary bullshit!

[mucher1]

Originally Posted by mark_2000

Image 10 just under death certificate.

The death certificate and will are those of his son, who died in 1999.

Here is the death certificate of JFK:
ARRB MD 6 - White House Death Certificate (Burkley - 11/23/63)

[Yamcha]

Damn.. It's truly so upsetting looking at this. Out of all the presidents he was my favorite-- I know it's an iconic tragedy but it always makes me sad thinking about it (and now seeing it.)

Nonetheless, thank you for sharing! I love how thorough this post is!