title: Firearm injury in Orleans parish: a 24-month perspective.
abstract: This study is a retrospective review of all gunshot wounds treated at Charity Hospital, the Orleans Parish designated trauma center, for the 24-month period from November 1993 to November 1995. Its purpose was to define the magnitude of firearm injury in the parish and the impact on the health care system. One-thousand-six-hundred-sixty-nine gunshot wounds were analyzed. Most involved African-American males. Twenty percent were fatal. Two-thousand-forty-three emergent operations were performed. Ten percent of surviving patients had some permanent disability, 6% required institutional care. In 760 patients, initial hospital charges totaled $5,153,516. Extrapolation of these figures to the entire group yields an initial hospital cost of $11,317,392. Transport by the "911" system and in-house trauma team activation were required in most patients. In summary, firearm injury poses a serious economic problem and is a substantial drain on health care providers and their resources.
authors.affiliation: Trauma program, Charity Hospital of New Orleans, La, USA.
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Buechter
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Maher
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008145:Louisiana / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014948:Wounds, Gunshot / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality