The testimony of Doris Mae Nelson was taken on March 20, 1964, at
Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas, Tex., by Mr. Arlen Specter,
assistant counsel of the President's Commission.
Mr. SPECTER. Mrs. Nelson, this is Miss Oliver, the court reporter, and
will you raise your right hand and take the oath?
Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you give in this proceeding
will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help
you God?
Mrs. NELSON. I do.
Mr. SPECTER. May the record show that Mrs. Doris Nelson is appearing
to testify in this deposition proceeding conducted by the President's
Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy to provide
whatever facts, if any, she may know concerning the treatment received
by President Kennedy and Governor Connally at Parkland Memorial
Hospital on November 22, 1963.
Mr. SPECTER. Will you state your full name for the record, please?
Mrs. NELSON. Doris Mae Nelson. Do you want my maiden name?
Mr. SPECTER. Fine, yes; what is your maiden name?
Mrs. NELSON. Morris, M-o-r-r-i-s [spelling].
Mr. SPECTER. Mrs. Nelson, have you had an opportunity to view the
joint resolution of the 88th Congress and the Executive order which
established the President's Commission?
Mrs. NELSON. Yes; I read it yesterday.
Mr. SPECTER. And have you had an opportunity to view the resolution of
the President's Commission covering questioning of witnesses by members
of the Commission staff?
Mrs. NELSON. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. And are you willing to be questioned today concerning this
matter, even though you have not had 3 days' notice?
Mrs. NELSON. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. Therefore waiving the right which you have, a 3 days'
notice under the resolution?
Mrs. NELSON. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. What is your occupation or profession?
Mrs. NELSON. I am a registered nurse, supervisor of the emergency room
at Parkland Memorial Hospital.
Mr. SPECTER. And how long have you been so occupied?
Mrs. NELSON. A year and 6 months as supervisor of the emergency room.
Mr. SPECTER. What were your duties in a general way on November 22,
1963?
Mrs. NELSON. I was primarily responsible for assigning personnel in the
treatment of the injured patients and carrying out security measures
with the Secret Service.
Mr. SPECTER. What notification, if any, did you receive on that date
concerning injuries to President Kennedy?
Mrs. NELSON. I received a phone call approximately 3 to 5 minutes
prior to their arrival, from the telephone operator, stating that the
President had been shot and was being brought to the emergency room.
Mr. SPECTER. What action after that did you take in preparing for the
President's arrival?
Mrs. NELSON. I immediately took the surgical resident into trauma room
No. 1, notified him of the incident, and asked the--also told the head
nurse that the President had been shot and was being brought to the
emergency room.
Then, I went into trauma room 2, after the head nurse had told me that
trauma room 1 was set up for any emergency, and proceeded to open a
bottle of intravenous fluid and set it up for an emergency situation.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you know at that time that anyone else had been
injured?
Mrs. NELSON. No; we were not notified as to anyone else being injured.
Mr. SPECTER. What occurred with respect to the arrival of any injured
party at Parkland Memorial Hospital thereafter?
Mrs. NELSON. As I walked out of trauma room No. 2 I heard someone
calling for stretchers and an orderly ran back into the area and got
a stretcher and ran out of the door, and a few seconds later Governor
Connally, who at that time I did not know who it was but recognized him
as not being the President, arrived and I directed them into trauma
room 2.
Mr. SPECTER. Did the orderly take out one stretcher, or was more than
one stretcher taken out?
Mrs. NELSON. I do not know exactly how many stretchers were taken out
at the time because I was not out at that area.
Mr. SPECTER. Did another stretcher come into the area?
Mrs. NELSON. Yes; immediately behind the Governor another stretcher
was brought back into the emergency room and on this stretcher was
President Kennedy.
Mr. SPECTER. How were you able to identify President Kennedy?
Mrs. NELSON. Well, I could look and see him and tell that it was him.
Mr. SPECTER. What part did you see?
Mrs. NELSON. The--mainly his head.
Mr. SPECTER. Was there any coat covering his face?
Mrs. NELSON. There was a coat thrown across the top of him, not
completely covering his face, and Mrs. Kennedy--do you want me to tell
about Mrs. Kennedy and the flowers?
Mr. SPECTER. Yes; continue. Yes; in answering the questions, Mrs.
Nelson, feel perfectly free to make as full an answer to the
question--I hesitate to have you stop, so that the record we make will
appear continuous and everything may be recorded fully for our record
purposes.
Mrs. NELSON. Mrs. Kennedy was walking beside the stretcher and the
roses that she had been given at the airport were lying on top of the
President and her hat was also lying on top of the President as he was
brought into the emergency room.
Mr. SPECTER. Where was he then taken?
Mrs. NELSON. He was immediately taken into trauma room 1.
Mr. SPECTER. And who, if anyone, was present at that time to attend him
in a medical way?
Mrs. NELSON. Dr. Carrico, a surgical resident was there at the time
that he was brought in, and Dr. Perry, an associate professor of
surgery arrived shortly thereafter, and several doctors arrived, Dr.
Baxter, associate professor of surgery, Dr. Kemp Clark, professor of
neurosurgery and chairman of the department; Dr. Bashour--
Mr. SPECTER. Spell, please.
Mrs. NELSON. B-a-s-h-o-u-r (spelling), chairman of the Department of
Cardiology, and several other doctors who I cannot recall all the names
at the present time.
Mr. SPECTER. Were you present inside of the emergency room where
President Kennedy was taken?
Mrs. NELSON. When what?
Mr. SPECTER. Were you in there at the time they were treating him,
caring for him at any time?
Mrs. NELSON. On one occasion I went into the room and this was mainly
to ask Mrs. Kennedy if she had rather wait out in the hallway rather
than in the room where they were treating the President, and I was told
by the Secret Service agent that she may stay in there if she wished.
Mr. SPECTER. Is there any table, or was there any table in the
emergency room to which President Kennedy was taken that he could be
placed on from the stretcher?
Mrs. NELSON. No.
Mr. SPECTER. Is it the normal situation to have no table present in the
emergency room?
Mrs. NELSON. The only one there is in case an ambulance should bring
a patient in, but if a patient comes in the emergency room on a
stretcher, then the stretcher that is in there is removed. Then the
patient remains on the same stretcher that he comes into the emergency
room on.
Mr. SPECTER. And was there a stretcher in the emergency room at the
time President Kennedy was taken in on a second stretcher?
Mrs. NELSON. It was taken out when they wheeled it in.
Mr. SPECTER. Were there any sheets on the stretcher that President
Kennedy was on?
Mrs. NELSON. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. After President Kennedy was taken off of the stretcher,
did you have occasion to observe that stretcher?
Mrs. NELSON. Yes; the stretcher was stripped by the nursing personnel
working in the room and the stretcher was moved across from trauma room
1 to trauma room 2 in order to get the stretcher out of the room.
Mr. SPECTER. What personnel stripped the stretcher?
Mrs. NELSON. Margaret Henchliffe, H-e-n-c-h-l-i-f-f-e [spelling], and
Diana Bowron, D-i-a-n-a B-o-w-r-o-n [spelling].
Mr. SPECTER. Did you actually observe Diana Bowron or Margaret
Henchliffe strip the stretcher?
Mrs. NELSON. No; I did not. This was the report that I received
afterwards.
Mr. SPECTER. From whom did you receive that report?
Mrs. NELSON. From these two nurses.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you see the stretcher after it was stripped in the
emergency room to which President Kennedy was taken?
Mrs. NELSON. No, I saw it after it was wheeled from trauma room 1 to
trauma room 2, because I was standing there at the doorway between the
two rooms with the Secret Service Police.
Mr. SPECTER. But it was actually in trauma room 1?
Mrs. NELSON. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. As it was being wheeled out to trauma room 2 and at the
time it was being wheeled out, was there any sheet on it at all----
Mrs. NELSON. No.
Mr. SPECTER. Rolled up on it in any way at all?
Mrs. NELSON. No.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you see where the stretcher was then placed?
Mrs. NELSON. Yes, it was put into trauma room 2.
Mr. SPECTER. Where was President Kennedy's body at that time?
Mrs. NELSON. It was in--it had been placed in a casket in trauma room 1.
Mr. SPECTER. And was the casket on any sort of an object or was it on
the floor or what?
Mrs. NELSON. It was on a form of roller-type table.
Mr. SPECTER. And did--do you know what President Kennedy's body was in,
if anything, at that time?
Mrs. NELSON. Yes, one of the nurses, Miss Hutton, came out and said
that the President was having extensive bleeding from the head and they
had wrapped four sheets around it but it was still oozing through, so
I sent her to the second floor to obtain a mattress cover, a plastic
mattress cover, to put in the casket prior to putting his body in the
casket, so the mattress cover was placed in the casket and I did not
see this happen, but this is how it was explained to me by the nurse,
and the plastic was placed on the mattress cover and the cover was
around the mattress.
Mr. SPECTER. Which nurse explained that to you?
Mrs. NELSON. Miss Bowron and Miss Henchliffe.
Mr. SPECTER. And what was done with the sheets which had been used to
absorb the blood from the President's body?
Mrs. NELSON. Well, there were approximately four sheets wrapped around
him and the remaining sheets that were on the stretcher were pulled
up and thrown in the linen hamper, according to Miss Bowron and Miss
Henchliffe.
Mr. SPECTER. And where is that linen hamper located?
Mrs. NELSON. That linen hamper is located in the utility room area of
the emergency room, which is just outside of the trauma room area.
Mr. SPECTER. And what floor is that on?
Mrs. NELSON. On the ground floor of the hospital.
Mr. SPECTER. What was done with Governor Connally?
Mrs. NELSON. Governor Connally was in the emergency room for a very
short period, approximately 15 to 20 minutes, at which time he had
chest tubes inserted, intravenous fluid started, anesthesia or oxygen
given to him, and he was taken immediately from the emergency room to
the operating room accompanied by several doctors.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you see him inside trauma room No. 2?
Mrs. NELSON. Yes; I did.
Mr. SPECTER. And did you observe him when he was taken out of trauma
room No. 2?
Mrs. NELSON. Yes, I saw him when he went upstairs to the operating room.
Mr. SPECTER. And how did he get upstairs to the operating room?
Mrs. NELSON. On a stretcher carried by several of the doctors. Miss
Standridge went in front, and opened doorways and went to the elevator.
I could not see her at the elevator but this is what she told me.
Mr. SPECTER. How far could you see her?
Mrs. NELSON. Oh, approximately 30 feet.
Mr. SPECTER. And who is Miss Standridge?
Mrs. NELSON. Head nurse in the emergency room.
Mr. SPECTER. What is her first name?
Mrs. NELSON. Jeanette.
Mr. SPECTER. You say the stretcher was carried?
Mrs. NELSON. Well, it was wheeled.
Mr. SPECTER. And what does the stretcher look like that Governor
Connally was on?
Mrs. NELSON. Well, there are no specific details, it's an average type
of movable four-wheel stretcher, made out of metal, with a plastic
mattress on the stretcher. It has an elevation between--on the sides,
so that the--I don't know how to explain exactly.
Mr. SPECTER. A bumper-type effect?
Mrs. NELSON. It has a bumper on the side.
Mr. SPECTER. Is there a tray underneath the place where the body was
resting?
Mrs. NELSON. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. And is that the same general description of a stretcher
that President Kennedy was brought in on?
Mrs. NELSON. Yes; they were the same type.
Mr. SPECTER. Mrs. Nelson, I'm going to show you a four-page statement
which is marked "Activities of Doris Nelson, R.N., beginning 12 noon,
Friday, November 22, 1963," after I ask that it be marked as an exhibit
in connection with this deposition.
(Reporter marked the instrument referred to as Nelson Exhibit No. 1.)
Mr. SPECTER. Is this a photostatic copy of the statement which you gave
to Mr. Jack Price, the administrator of the hospital, concerning your
activities on November 22, 1963, as they pertain to this matter?
Mrs. NELSON. Yes; it is.
Mr. SPECTER. And are the facts set forth herein true and correct to the
best of your knowledge, information and belief?
Mrs. NELSON. Yes; they are.
Mr. SPECTER. Did I meet with you for a few moments before we started
this deposition and explain the purpose of the proceeding?
Mrs. NELSON. Yes; you did.
Mr. SPECTER. Did I ask you the same questions which we have discussed
here during the course of my questioning before the court reporter?
Mrs. NELSON. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. Thank you very much for providing this deposition to us.
Mrs. NELSON. You are quite welcome.
Mr. SPECTER. Off the record.
(Discussion off the record between Mr. Specter and the witness, Mrs.
Doris Nelson.)
Mr. SPECTER. Back on the record, just a minute.
Mrs. Nelson, I will ask you if you would sign the end of this statement
here, that it is your statement?