JFK CONFERS WITH DOCTORS ON NEWBORN'S CONDITION
Boston, Massachusetts (JFK+50) On August 8, 1963, a concerned President John F. Kennedy conferred with doctors at Children's Hospital here in Boston on the condition of his newly born son, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy.
Baby Patrick was was born 5 and 1/2 weeks premature on August 7 at Otis Air Force Base Hospital where Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy had been rushed by helicopter from Hyannisport.
President Kennedy, who had flown by helicopter to Boston, wore a white cap and gown as he "watched helplessly through a small porthole in the high-pressure chamber" where the baby was fighting for his life.
Antibiotics were not helping so as Ralph G. Martin writes...
"The only hope was that normal body functions would dissolve...a veil-like membrane (which) covered the inside of his walnut-size lungs..."*
*Hyaline membrane disease is caused by the development of an insufficiency of surfactant production and structural immaturity of the lungs. It is the leading cause of death in premature births.
SOURCE
"A Hero For Our Time: An Intimate Story of the Kennedy Years," by Ralph G. Martin, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, 1983.
Boston, Massachusetts (JFK+50) On August 8, 1963, a concerned President John F. Kennedy conferred with doctors at Children's Hospital here in Boston on the condition of his newly born son, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy.
Baby Patrick was was born 5 and 1/2 weeks premature on August 7 at Otis Air Force Base Hospital where Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy had been rushed by helicopter from Hyannisport.
President Kennedy, who had flown by helicopter to Boston, wore a white cap and gown as he "watched helplessly through a small porthole in the high-pressure chamber" where the baby was fighting for his life.
Antibiotics were not helping so as Ralph G. Martin writes...
"The only hope was that normal body functions would dissolve...a veil-like membrane (which) covered the inside of his walnut-size lungs..."*
*Hyaline membrane disease is caused by the development of an insufficiency of surfactant production and structural immaturity of the lungs. It is the leading cause of death in premature births.
SOURCE
"A Hero For Our Time: An Intimate Story of the Kennedy Years," by Ralph G. Martin, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, 1983.
