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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

Navy Nurse

A navy nurse and a corpsman tend to a man with injured leg
Description: Painting, Oil on Canvas; by Joseph Hirsch; C. 1943; Framed Dimensions 17H X 24W
Accession #: 88-159-EQ as a Gift of Abbott Laboratories
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An important function of the Navy nurse is to instruct hospital corpsmen. Here one nurse supervises the administration of an anesthetic, Pentothal Sodium, which is being given intravenously preparatory to resetting a patient's leg. On the man's thigh is a Roger Anderson fracture device, having pins to hold the bone in place. This patient, a Marine raider under treatment in a Navy mobile hospital unit in New Caledonia, was hit by a Japanese bullet that pierced both legs, fracturing the left thigh, and severing a nerve in his right leg.

Topic
Document Type
  • Art
Wars & Conflicts
  • World War II 1939-1945
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