AMAZIAN OF THE WEEK: Dr. Peter Rhee, Surgeon Overseeing The Care Of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords
Name: Dr. Peter Rhee
Hails from: Pennsylvania, originally
Occupation: 24 year Navy Veteran and Military Surgeon, Chief of Trauma at the University Medical Center in Tucson
Let’s step away for a moment from the finger-pointing that’s ensued from all sides since the shooting in Tucson and appreciate this: Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who remains in critical condition after sustaining a gunshot wound to the head, and the others injured at Giffords’ political event who were also admitted to Tucson’s University Medical Center’s trauma unit have, at the very least, been in excellent hands since Saturday’s tragedy. Today, the LA Times profiled Dr. Peter Rhee, chief of trauma at UMC, who is overseeing the care of those injured in the shooting and has become an instantly recognizable face after giving updates on the Congresswoman’s condition to the media over the weekend and describing his medical team as “optimistic” about her recovery.
The LA Times reveals that Rhee, a 24 year Navy veteran, spent five years as the director of the Navy Trauma Training Center at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, where he “typically would treat 30 gunshot wounds a day.” The profile also notes that he served two deployments–one in Afghanistan and one in Iraq–as a military surgeon, treating “hundreds and hundreds” of battlefield injuries. In typical Hardass Asian-style, Rhee describes his time in Arizona, by comparison, thusly:
“Tucson is actually, for a trauma surgeon, very embarrassing and pathetic because violence is almost nonexistent. I know everyone in the country thinks World War III is going on in Arizona, but it’s probably still the nicest place I can think of to live.”
We don’t know about “nicest place,” but today you could call Arizona a fortunate one–for being able to count Dr. Rhee as one of its own.
[LA Times: Giffords' surgeon trained on the battlefield]
[photo by Chris Carlson/The Associated Press via LA Times]
Filed under: Arizona, Asian Doctors, Dr. Peter Rhee, Dr. Rhee, Gabrielle Giffords Shooting, Hardass Asian Doctors, In Good Hands, Jared Lee Loughner, Mass Shootings, Military Doctors, Military Men, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Studs, Surgeons, Trauma Surgeon Peter Rhee, Tucson Shooting, U.S. Navy, Veterans
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If Dr. Rhee has practiced in Iraq and Afghanistan, working in a CSH, then Ms. Giffords is very lucky that he’s the guy who was waiting for her in the ER. Those folks, out of unfortunate necessity, develop incredible techniques to treat wounded soldiers.
@Ken You’re right about that. He talks about just that in this FOX News interview, where he describes how, because of the head trauma they’ve treated in those wars, they know how to deal with civilian head trauma better, by being “aggressively surgical”: http://video.foxnews.com/v/4490780/surgeon-updates-rep-giffords-condition
Yeah, Jen. One of my relatives was a trauma medic/nurse in Iraq and gave me a few stories about the fascinating things they used to keep people alive for the crucial time between the field and the hospital. Like the “hot pocket” (their name, not mine) to retain body heat and forgo shock, etc.
Thanks for posting this, dude is totally a bad ass.