Oct 17, 2007 5:59 pm US/Central
Tactical Physicians Talk About Saving SWAT Officer
DALLAS (CBS 11 News) ―
Lt. Carlton Marshal is in critical but stable condition after being shot while helping federal agents serve an arrest warrant.
His care began at the scene by two Parkland Hospital physicians who may have made the difference between life and death.
Off duty and outside the walls of the hospital emergency room, emergency room Dr. Jeff Metzger and trauma surgeon Dr. Alex Eastman were with Lt. Marshal when he was shot.
"You've got a job to do, and this is what we train for," said Dr. Eastman.
"He had a gunshot wound to the neck," said Dr. Metzger. "We weren't able to put an airway in the way we typically do."
They placed an airway in his neck and saved the life of a friend.
"He's an all around great guy -- great family man, a lot of fun to be around, one of the most gentle, nice guys," said Dr. Metzger.
They know him because they work overnight as tactical physicians out in the field with the Dallas SWAT team – a program set up by UT Southwestern Medical Center.
"We see traumatic injuries like this all the time, but very rarely is it someone that we know on this level and someone that we just talked to maybe ten minutes before," said Dr. Metzger.
"The reasons we're there are exactly what you see today," said Eastman. "Carlton is going to get to go home to his family."
For the many nights they have left their families, Metzger says, "It makes getting up at 3 in the morning and running a warrant with these guys -- it makes it all worth while."
"I don't know what would have happened if we weren't there. But I'm sure glad to be able to look Mrs. Marshal in the face tonight and say, 'I'm glad that we were.'"
(CBS 11 News)
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