Military Weapon Injury Among Illegal Immigrants at the Southern Border of Israel: A Single Level I Trauma Center Series.
This article describes the characteristics of injuries of illegal immigrants admitted to a Level I trauma center after being shot at the southern border of Israel. This is a retrospective descriptive study. Some of the variables were compared to a group of soldiers who sustained penetrating injury at the same region where the illegal migrant were injured. The study includes 162 patients. The lower body absorbed a higher percentage of the injuries (61 %). The hospitalization time is longer for the migrant patients compared to the soldiers (13 ± 2 vs. 3 ± 0.3 days p = 0.0001). This study on wounded immigrants shows that a conjoint military and civilian system can result in favourable outcomes. The manuscript is an attempt to bring this unique situation, its type of injuries, and the difficulties of the health system in coping with it, to the notice of all authorities that may address a similar challenge.
Department of Surgery, Soroka University Medical Center and Ben-Gurion University, 64 Wingate Street, Beer Sheva, Israel. shakedg@bgu.ac.il.
Gad
G
Shaked
Trauma and Combat Medicine Branch, Medical Corps, Surgeon General's Headquarters, Israel Defense Forces, Jerusalem, Israel.
Avraham
A
Yitzhak
Trauma and Combat Medicine Branch, Medical Corps, Surgeon General's Headquarters, Israel Defense Forces, Jerusalem, Israel.
Amir
A
Abramovich
Department of Surgery, Soroka University Medical Center and Ben-Gurion University, 64 Wingate Street, Beer Sheva, Israel.
Gilbert
G
Sebbag
Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel National Center for Trauma and Emergency Medicine Research, Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy Research, Ramat Gan, Israel.
Kobi
K
Peleg
Clinical Management, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer Sheva, Israel.
Ehud
E
Davidson
Department of Surgery, Soroka University Medical Center and Ben-Gurion University, 64 Wingate Street, Beer Sheva, Israel.
David
D
Czeiger
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000349:Africa / Q000208:ethnology; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014193:Trauma Centers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000069756:Undocumented Immigrants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D054041:Weapons; D014950:Wounds, Penetrating / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D055815:Young Adult
Border; Illegal immigrants; Military weapon; Penetrating injury