Doctors discuss recovery of marathon victims

Nation-_Boston_case_Obama.jpgPresident Barack Obama speaks at the “Healing Our City: An Interfaith Service” at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston, Thursday, April 18, 2013. The service was dedicated to those who were gravely wounded or killed in Monday’s bombing near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Doctors say the wounded face a lengthy recovery. Two suspects were pursued in the case, one is in custody and the other died in a gun battle with police. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

BOSTON — Doctors at Boston Medical Center say many of those injured in the Boston Marathon bombings face a long recovery.

BMC doctors are scheduled to speak Monday about the physical, psychological and rehabilitative healing of the victims.

Three people died and more than 180 were injured in the bombings at the finish line last Monday. BMC treated 23 victims.

One suspect died in a shootout with police, and another is in custody.

Doctors are expected to discuss complex vascular injuries and reconstruction of amputations, as well as the psychological implications for patients and their families, including post-traumatic stress disorder.

One doctor will also talk about the rehabilitation process of amputees, including prosthetics.

 

Authorities launched a massive manhunt for two suspects seen on surveillance video. A look at the basics of the case:

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NEW DEVELOPMENTS

Bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev remained hospitalized in serious but stable condition Sunday, two days after he was found wounded and bloody hiding in a boat parked behind a home in Watertown, a Boston suburb authorities had shut down to conduct house-by-house searches.

A defiant, festive mood prevailed at the London Marathon on Sunday as thousands of runners offered tributes to those killed and injured in Boston a week earlier. Police said they planned to add 40 percent more officers and extra surveillance as a precautionary measure.

A wake for 29-year-old bombing victim Krystle Campbell was held Sunday at a funeral home in Medford, Mass. A private funeral is scheduled for Monday. A memorial service will be held that night at Boston University for 23-year-old Lu Lingzi, a graduate student from China.

Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said Sunday that investigators believe Tsarnaev and his brother, Tamerlan, were likely planning other attacks. Davis said that authorities found an arsenal of homemade explosives after a gun battle between police and the suspects.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said surveillance video from the bombing shows Dzhokhar Tsarnaev dropping his backpack and calmly walking away from it before the bomb inside exploded. “It’s pretty clear about his involvement and pretty chilling, frankly,” said Patrick.

At Boston’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Cardinal Sean O’Malley spoke about the city’s pain but urged tolerance toward those who come from the same religious or ethnic background as the suspects. “Our task is to keep this spirit of community alive going forward,” he said. “We must be people of reconciliation, not revenge. The crimes of two young men must not be the justification for prejudice against Muslims or against immigrants.”

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HOW THE SITUATION UNFOLDED

Surveillance tape late Thursday showed Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Suspect No. 2, at a gas station. Authorities said the two suspects fatally shot a university police officer then carjacked a man and got involved in a chase with police that resulted in explosives being thrown from their car and an exchange of gunfire. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Suspect No. 1, was wounded and died later at a hospital.

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PUBLIC REACTION

After the death of one suspect and the capture of the other, people in Boston and its western suburbs thanked police, cheered, applauded and set off fireworks. Later, they gathered in silence near the site of the bombings to remember the victims. Some cried. Some wrapped themselves in American flags.

“Now I feel a little safer,” Boston resident Beth Lloyd-Jones said.

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THE SUSPECTS

Law enforcement officials and family members have identified the brothers as ethnic Chechens who had lived in Dagestan, in southern Russia. The brothers had been in the United States for about a decade and lived near Boston, an uncle said. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, whose father has called him a “true angel,” is a 19-year-old student at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was a 26-year-old boxer. Their uncle Ruslan Tsarni called them “losers.”

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THE MARATHON EXPLOSIONS

Two bombs exploded about 10 seconds and 100 yards apart in Boston’s Copley Square, near the finish line of the marathon. An 8-year-old boy, a 29-year-old woman and a 23-year-old graduate student from China were killed, and more than 180 people were wounded. The explosions occurred about four hours into the race and two hours after the winners had crossed the finish line, but thousands of runners were still on the course.

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THE BOMBS

Authorities have said they believe the bombs used were fashioned out of ordinary kitchen pressure cookers packed with explosives, nails, ball bearings and metal
shards. They say the bombs were hidden in backpacks and left on the ground.

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