Police Taking Page from the Military by Saving Lives with Tourniquets

Adam Stone | February 24, 2015

Beside the horrific nature and senselessness of the acts, the Sandy Hook shooting and the Boston Marathon bombing share a critical commonality. In both cases, many of the fatalities were caused not by the immediate blast or bullet, but by rapid and catastrophic bleeding. It’s an increasing phenomenon that can be prevented.

With this in mind, many police departments and public safety advocates have turned to a simple solution in recent years, a tried-and-true method for emergency response to traumatic bleeding. It’s the return of the tourniquet.

“The name of this game is to stop bleeding to death, so you need to be empowered to stop the hemorrhaging. Can you do that? Yes, you can,” said Dr. Lenworth Jacobs, director of trauma and emergency medicine at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut.

In the wake of recent violent events, and with the backing of the American College of Surgeons, Jacobs founded the Hartford Consensus. This interagency task force encourages police and other first responders to train on, and be equipped with, tourniquets as part of their regular routine.

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