Surgeon Describes Asiana 214 Passenger Injuries

Neurosurgeon Geoffrey Manley, MD, PhD told PBS that doctors treating passenger injuries for Asiana Flight 214 found a unique injury pattern.

“All of the passengers were in the sam type of seat, wearing the same type of seatbelt . . . we did see a number of spinal injuries and traumatic brain injuries as well as some profound abdominal injuries and extremity injuries. So it was a picture of polytrauma with an abundance of spine injuries and traumatic brain injuries as well.  Many of these patients looked much better than they imaged so we had people that were the walking wounded.”

Dr. Manley added that the CT scans revealed that there was gross instability of the cervical spines, thoracic spines and lumbar spines of many of the Asiana accident victims. The ligaments were literally ripped with associated bone fractures as passengers went forward and backwards in the airplane seats of the Boeing aircraft 777. The plane hurtled and twisted down the runway after hitting the seawall that separates the San Francisco Bay from the outskirts of the runway area. Unfortunately, some of the passengers suffered spinal cord injuries. Dr. Manley said although it’s too early to tell, it is possible that they may never walk again.

The most unusual aspect of the injuries according to the surgeon was the uniformity of the injuries. He said that although the seat belts may have contributed to the number of ligament and spinal injuries, the seat belts, like in automobiles most likely prevented more trauma than they caused.