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CNN Live Today

Embedded with the Devil Docs

Aired April 03, 2003 - 11:13   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Just about 8:15 in the evening in Baghdad. It is dark again. Fourteen days after the ground war began, we now know U.S. troops are poised just on the outskirts of the Iraqi capital.
And just further south of Baghdad, we find Dr. Sanjay Gupta embedded with the devil docs yet again, as he went back into Iraq several days ago.

Sanjay is back with us by way of videophone, and you have had a rather interesting experience, to say the least.

Sanjay, good evening to you.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Bill, it's been an interesting and a very busy day as well, Bill. We are in an operating room. This is part of Bravo surgical company. Bill, you and I have talked so much about this. These are actually surgical operating rooms that move with the troops. They're mobile. This particular one had just been set up today.

What you're witnessing now behind me are two operations going on simultaneously. This is being done live. These are the first operations actually done in this particular tent. On the far table, way behind me, Bill, that's an operation being done on someone's abdomen for a gunshot wound to the abdomen.

And just to my left over here, Bill, an operation on someone's leg for a gunshot wound to the leg. Both these patients are Iraqi. Both of these are as told to me by the Marines considered EPWs, enemy prisoners of war, until proven otherwise. They are both undergoing their operations now.

You can see the flurry of activity behind me, Bill. You can see the resources. There are surgical teams. These surgical teams are working around the clock. Helicopters landing, bringing in patients all the time -- Bill.

Sanjay, I want to go back to a story that you relayed to our viewers about an hour ago, about your own involvement today with the devil docs. I'll let you do it in your own words. What happened earlier today?

GUPTA: Well, Bill, you know, it's been an interesting experience for me. Certainly being a journalist, a doctor, a neurosurgeon, when I spent some doctors with the devil docs earlier, one of the things that they had told me was they didn't have any neurosurgical capability, and they said if a patient were to come in that needed such an operation, would I be willing to help. They asked me that question. Today that happened. It was just a few hours ago, they came up to me and said a 2-year-old child has a gunshot wound or shrapnel wound of great significance to the head, would I be willing to come take a look at the patient and take the patient to the operating room?

Medically and morally, I felt that was the right thing to do. The operation was a brain operation basically to decompress the pressure on that child's brain. Bill, this child was in what we call in the medical lingo, extremist, meaning at the time I saw the patient, a few minutes really only to live, the outcome of the operation was the child did die after the operation, despite our efforts, but this was something we attempted to save the life of this child through the operation. I was asked to help out. Medically and morally, I thought it was the right thing to do.

HEMMER: Sanjay, take that just a step further, if you could. You mentioned, you went in as a journalist, but you're trained in the medical field as a neurosurgeon. You've taken a medical oath. When you were asked to do this, and approached earlier today, your immediate reaction or reaction after that was what, Sanjay?

GUPTA: Well, I'll tell you, I did not hesitate at all. I thought it was absolutely the right thing to do. I thought we could give this kid a fighting chance to live, and we came very close to doing exactly that. The operation, the brain part of this operation, went very well. Unfortunately, the child had so many other injuries in addition to this brain injury, that he could not survive all of them, as it turned out.

But I didn't hesitate, Bill. I think it was medically and morally the right thing to do. I think that I had reflected on this, I maybe even spoke with you about it in times past, about whether or not I would jump in. They asked me to, and, again, I think anybody would, I think any of the colleagues that I have back home would probably have done the same thing -- Bill.

HEMMER: Sanjay, listen, one more thing here. This was obviously a small child, as you mentioned, maybe 2 years in age, a civilian clearly. Do you know anything about how this young girl was hurt?

GUPTA: Let me tell you what we do know, Bill, and this has been something that we've been trying to figure out all day. Medics, Navy corpsmen brought these two patients in, the child and his mother. What we have learned is a taxicab was traveling through a checkpoint, a Marine checkpoint. Inside the taxicab was a taxicab driver in the driver seat, and in the passenger seat was another adult male. In the back seat, was the mother and the child. The gunfire from the Marines on to the car. Apparently this particular vehicle passed through the checkpoint without stopping. That is what we are hearing from the Marines. Both passengers in the front seat died, again, the taxicab driver and the adult male.

The mother and the child were brought in to this particular unit where we are just south of Baghdad. The mother is in critical condition, having undergone an operation as well. The child, we've told you about. That is what we are hearing at this point. We can't confirm anything else, but just that this car did appear to go through the checkpoint, and drew fire as a result -- Bill.

HEMMER: Wow. What a story. What a tragedy, too. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, embedded with the devil docs somewhere just south of Baghdad.

Sanjay, thanks for that report.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired April 3, 2003 - 11:13   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Just about 8:15 in the evening in Baghdad. It is dark again. Fourteen days after the ground war began, we now know U.S. troops are poised just on the outskirts of the Iraqi capital.
And just further south of Baghdad, we find Dr. Sanjay Gupta embedded with the devil docs yet again, as he went back into Iraq several days ago.

Sanjay is back with us by way of videophone, and you have had a rather interesting experience, to say the least.

Sanjay, good evening to you.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Bill, it's been an interesting and a very busy day as well, Bill. We are in an operating room. This is part of Bravo surgical company. Bill, you and I have talked so much about this. These are actually surgical operating rooms that move with the troops. They're mobile. This particular one had just been set up today.

What you're witnessing now behind me are two operations going on simultaneously. This is being done live. These are the first operations actually done in this particular tent. On the far table, way behind me, Bill, that's an operation being done on someone's abdomen for a gunshot wound to the abdomen.

And just to my left over here, Bill, an operation on someone's leg for a gunshot wound to the leg. Both these patients are Iraqi. Both of these are as told to me by the Marines considered EPWs, enemy prisoners of war, until proven otherwise. They are both undergoing their operations now.

You can see the flurry of activity behind me, Bill. You can see the resources. There are surgical teams. These surgical teams are working around the clock. Helicopters landing, bringing in patients all the time -- Bill.

Sanjay, I want to go back to a story that you relayed to our viewers about an hour ago, about your own involvement today with the devil docs. I'll let you do it in your own words. What happened earlier today?

GUPTA: Well, Bill, you know, it's been an interesting experience for me. Certainly being a journalist, a doctor, a neurosurgeon, when I spent some doctors with the devil docs earlier, one of the things that they had told me was they didn't have any neurosurgical capability, and they said if a patient were to come in that needed such an operation, would I be willing to help. They asked me that question. Today that happened. It was just a few hours ago, they came up to me and said a 2-year-old child has a gunshot wound or shrapnel wound of great significance to the head, would I be willing to come take a look at the patient and take the patient to the operating room?

Medically and morally, I felt that was the right thing to do. The operation was a brain operation basically to decompress the pressure on that child's brain. Bill, this child was in what we call in the medical lingo, extremist, meaning at the time I saw the patient, a few minutes really only to live, the outcome of the operation was the child did die after the operation, despite our efforts, but this was something we attempted to save the life of this child through the operation. I was asked to help out. Medically and morally, I thought it was the right thing to do.

HEMMER: Sanjay, take that just a step further, if you could. You mentioned, you went in as a journalist, but you're trained in the medical field as a neurosurgeon. You've taken a medical oath. When you were asked to do this, and approached earlier today, your immediate reaction or reaction after that was what, Sanjay?

GUPTA: Well, I'll tell you, I did not hesitate at all. I thought it was absolutely the right thing to do. I thought we could give this kid a fighting chance to live, and we came very close to doing exactly that. The operation, the brain part of this operation, went very well. Unfortunately, the child had so many other injuries in addition to this brain injury, that he could not survive all of them, as it turned out.

But I didn't hesitate, Bill. I think it was medically and morally the right thing to do. I think that I had reflected on this, I maybe even spoke with you about it in times past, about whether or not I would jump in. They asked me to, and, again, I think anybody would, I think any of the colleagues that I have back home would probably have done the same thing -- Bill.

HEMMER: Sanjay, listen, one more thing here. This was obviously a small child, as you mentioned, maybe 2 years in age, a civilian clearly. Do you know anything about how this young girl was hurt?

GUPTA: Let me tell you what we do know, Bill, and this has been something that we've been trying to figure out all day. Medics, Navy corpsmen brought these two patients in, the child and his mother. What we have learned is a taxicab was traveling through a checkpoint, a Marine checkpoint. Inside the taxicab was a taxicab driver in the driver seat, and in the passenger seat was another adult male. In the back seat, was the mother and the child. The gunfire from the Marines on to the car. Apparently this particular vehicle passed through the checkpoint without stopping. That is what we are hearing from the Marines. Both passengers in the front seat died, again, the taxicab driver and the adult male.

The mother and the child were brought in to this particular unit where we are just south of Baghdad. The mother is in critical condition, having undergone an operation as well. The child, we've told you about. That is what we are hearing at this point. We can't confirm anything else, but just that this car did appear to go through the checkpoint, and drew fire as a result -- Bill.

HEMMER: Wow. What a story. What a tragedy, too. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, embedded with the devil docs somewhere just south of Baghdad.

Sanjay, thanks for that report.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com