Pit bulls educating surgeons: The Sucking Chest Wound

Dr. Larry B. Mellick, Professor of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics treated a rare type of injury typically only seen as soldiers' battle wounds: the sucking chest wound.

This civilian patient was a 4-year old girl mauled by her family pit bull.  The pit bull tore open her chest wall.

The injury is so rare, Dr. Mellick referred to military guides to treat the patient.  He made a video and published a short write-up in Emergency Medicine Reports to inform fellow civilian emergency care doctors of the treatment.

[warning: it's gross]




Outside the battlefield theater, a sucking chest wound or open pneumothorax is a fairly uncommon event. Consequently, guidelines concerning the management of this condition are highly dependent on the experience of the military and expert opinion. Almost no research exists that can guide our management of these injuries.


They're just like any other dog.

Just dogs

We shouldn't be surprised when a pit bull engages in pit bull behavior. Nor should we be surprised when a pit bull engages in dog behavior. What we can do, perhaps, is be reminded that because a pit bull behaves simply like a dog does not mean it will never behave like a pit bull. As an example, my Labrador Retriever presented typical dog behaviors, from sniffing other dogs to rolling on his back for a scratch. He also exhibited many Labrador-specific behaviors, from his predictable fetching and his love of water to his soft mouth. Both made him what he was. In a more realistic world, pit bull owners would recognize their dog's possible pit bull-specific behaviors even as they embrace their pet's dog-specific behaviors. Then there'd be no, "He's never done this before, he's always been such a good dog..." (He still is, except now he's shown that he's also good at being a pit bull)