Associated Files
Title
WBUR Oral History Project: Dr. David King
Creator
King, David (Interviewee)
Contributor
Guberman, Jayne (Interviewer)
McGrath, Jim (Recordist)
McDonough, Ryan (Contributor)
McGrath, Jim (Recordist)
McDonough, Ryan (Contributor)
Language
English
Date created
February 24, 2014
Type of resource
Sound recording
Genre
Interviews
Oral histories (document genres)
Oral histories (document genres)
Format
Sound Recording
Digital origin
born digital
Abstract/Description
Countless lives were affected by the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings and their
aftermath. The WBUR Oral History Project collects stories from individuals whose lives were
immediately and irrevocably changed by these events. Thanks to the generous sponsorship
of WBUR, our team of oral historians, and the participation of these interview subjects, Our
Marathon has tried to ensure that these stories are not forgotten. We believe that these
stories matter, and that they demonstrate the ways historical events transform the lives of
the people who lived through them. Oral historians Jayne K. Guberman, Ph.D., and Joanna Shea
O'Brien conducted the interviews for this project. Oral History Project Manager Kristi
Girdharry, Our Marathon Project Co-Director Jim McGrath, and Community Outreach Lead Joanne
DeCaro recorded the interviews and provided research assistance and post-interview processing.
McGrath and Our Marathon Audio Technician Ryan McDonough provided sound editing and processing
for all of the interviews and clips. The opinions and statements expressed in interviews and
related content featured in the WBUR Oral History Project do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of Our Marathon, WBUR, Northeastern University, or any employees or volunteers
affiliated with these institutions and projects. Our Marathon and The WBUR Oral History
project make no assertions about the veracity of statements made by participants in this
project. Dr. David King is a trauma and acute care surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital.
During his medical residency, he joined the US Army and was subsequently deployed as a front
line doctor in Iraq (2008) and Afghanistan (2011). Now a lieutenant colonial in the US Army
Reserves, David continues to be interested in many aspects of acute care and mass casualty
rapid response. David is an avid runner and triathlete who has participated in some forty to
fifty marathons over the past twelve years, including four previous Boston Marathons. On
Marathon Day, he was focused on finishing in 3 hours and 15 minutes, the qualifying time for
his age group. After crossing the finish line, he was in a cab heading home with his family
when he started receiving strange messages asking if he were okay, including one that
mentioned an explosion. Unable to access his web browser, he decided to have his wife take him
directly into the hospital. Walking into the trauma center at the Mass General emergency room,
he immediately saw a pattern of injuries among the five to six patients already there that he
knew must be the result of an improvised explosive device. Within three minutes of arrival, he
was taking a patient to operating room. Over the ensuing hours and days, David worked
tirelessly with his team to stabilize and operate on the most acutely injured survivors, many
of whom required multiple surgeries, including amputations. During this initial period of
acute care, he also interacted with family members and escorted President Obama, when he came
to comfort survivors on the Thursday following the bombings. In his interview, David talks
about lessons learned on the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan that have become well
integrated into acute care of patients suffering traumatic injuries here at home. He discusses
the emergency response systems in place at Mass General, as well as the coordination among
Boston-area trauma hospitals that directed ambulances to the various facilities, thereby
saving the lives of so many seriously injured patients. Finally, he reflects on the importance
of every member of the hospital team, from the surgeon, nurses, and anesthesiologists, to the
cafeteria workers and those who clean the operating rooms between surgeries. Everyone, he
points out, plays a vital role when the care of grievously injured patients is at stake.
Notes
The opinions and statements expressed in interviews and related
content featured in the WBUR Oral History Project do not necessarily reflect the opinions of
Our Marathon, WBUR, Northeastern University, or any employees or volunteers affiliated with
these institutions and projects. Our Marathon and The WBUR Oral History project make no
assertions about the veracity of statements made by participants in this project.
Source note
The WBUR Oral History Project. Dr. David King (Oral History), Jayne
Guberman (Oral Historian), Jim McGrath (Recorder), Ryan McDonough (Sound Processing and
Editing)
Related item
Our Marathon The Boston Bombing Digital Archive
Subjects and keywords
Boston Marathon Bombing, Boston, Mass., 2013
Permanent URL
Location
Northeastern University Library
Use and reproduction
In Copyright. This Item is protected by
copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by
the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need
to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Requests for permission to publish material should be addressed to Northeastern University Library's Digital Scholarship Group (dsg@neu.edu).
Requests for permission to publish material should be addressed to Northeastern University Library's Digital Scholarship Group (dsg@neu.edu).