In the Blood

March 27, 2023
In this astonishing and often disturbing report, Wesleyan writer-in-residence Barber (Citizen Outlaw) reveals how hubris and obsession got in the way of U.S. Army’s efforts to stop “catastrophic bleeding” on the battlefield. In 1983, mechanical engineer Frank Hursey began investigating if the obscure mineral zeolite could absorb the water in blood, leaving the remainder “supersaturated with the elements that actually formed clots, thereby dramatically speeding up the clotting process.” Though his invention, named QuikClot, was adopted by other branches of the military, it took decades, and the help of an astute business partner, salesman Bart Gullong, before QuikClot was accepted by the U.S. Army. Barber attributes much the delay to Col. John Holcomb, an Army trauma surgeon who “experienced the agony of having patients bleed to death in hands” during the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu and promoted other blood-clotting drugs, despite evidence that one of them, Factor Seven, had deadly side effects. Ultimately, a whistleblower lawsuit exposed the dangers of Factor Seven, and in 2008, QuikClot was officially recommended by the Committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care as “the first-line treatment for life-threatening hemorrhage that is not amenable to tourniquet placement.” Hursey’s invention also became standard issue for emergency responders around the country. Barber draws on extensive interviews with Hursey, Gullong, and veterans who lives were saved by QuikClot, and briskly explains medical, legal, and military matters. This story of innovation and persistence merits a wide audience.

April 1, 2023
The tale of an outcast engineer and a desperate marketer who came together to create a new medical technology. In a book that blends biography, history, and medical science, Barber--a lecturer in psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine and author of Comfortably Numb and Citizen Outlaw--begins with an unlikely duo: Frank Hursey, an eccentric and uncharismatic inventor who uncovered the blood-clotting properties of the common mineral zeolite but sat on the discovery for years until he teamed up with salesman Bart Gullong. Together, they launched a new company, Z-Medica, in 2002 and introduced their zeolite blood-clotting product, QuikClot, to the U.S. Navy, to rousing success. Over the course of its venture, Z-Medica overcame obstacles from the outside--namely, those of antagonistic Dr. John Holcomb, the head of trauma medicine for the Army--and from within when Gullong struggled with his own personal traumas. It is a classic American success story--perhaps too classic even for the broad target audience. The author's prose is readable by anyone, background in medical technologies or not, including explanations and common terms whenever technical phrasing arises. This fits well with the biographical content but contrasts with the explorations of the mechanics of various technologies. Specialist readers may be interested in these sections, though Barber doesn't delve deeply enough and includes redundancies to keep general audiences up to speed. Just as abundant are extra biographical elements, namely character backgrounds for the minor players in Hursey and Gullong's story. While often interesting in their own rights, these character-specific historical asides are presented formulaically and have little bearing on the primary narrative. The core story lacks sufficient development, requiring numerous digressions, some of them intriguing and at least tangentially related, to fill out the text. An inspiring story about a novel medical invention, albeit one stretched thin as a single layer of gauze.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 1, 2023
For a long time, the primary way to stanch the flow of blood from battlefield wounds was applying manual pressure to the wound site and covering it with gauze. More recently, the U.S. Army invested considerable resources to develop better treatments for controlling traumatic bleeding. Their preferred remedy didn't work well. Then they tried a costly drug originally designed for treating hemophiliacs, but it was associated with a life-threatening side effect. When engineer-entrepreneur Frank Hursey experimented with the mineral zeolite, he experienced a eureka moment. The inexpensive, absorbent crystalline material would be capable of slowing bleeding and easy to use. Teaming up with salesman Bart Gullong, the two men developed QuikClot. While other branches of the military confirmed its effectiveness and embraced its utilization, the controversial director of army trauma medicine and research obstinately refused (for unclear reasons) to green-light its use. Nevertheless, Hursey and Gullong persisted, eventually formulating an improved version, QuikClot Combat Gauze, now in use. Serendipity, an unusual collaboration, and perseverance successfully come together in this infuriating but ultimately triumphant story.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 5, 2023

Barber (writer in residence, Wesleyan Univ.; psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine; Citizen Outlaw: One Man's Journey from Gangleader to Peacekeeper) writes about the remarkable efforts made by Frank Hursey, a quiet engineer with a small business that made oxygen generators. In 1983, Hursey became interested in a mineral that had useful hydrophilic properties called zeolite. Hursey thought it might be useful to treat hemorrhaging patients with since it seemed to absorb water but left platelets and other clotting factors in the body. He teamed up with Bart Gullong, a salesman, and developed a zeolite wound patch that worked astonishingly well to slow bleeding and save lives. The patch's virtues were spread informally among the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Navy. When Hursey and Gullong tried to sell the wound patches to the U.S. Army, however, they encountered resistance; the army even tried to ruin their product's reputation, and Barber's book details why, somewhat tediously, which makes the narrative a lengthy one. But the outcome of a long and complicated effort to revolutionize trauma treatment is inspiring. VERDICT This story about determined amateurs will likely be of interest to collections supporting entrepreneurship and personal development.--Edwin Burgess

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