"Regarding Jeffrey MacDonald's wounds
There has been much speculation regarding the extent of Jeff MacDonald's wounds, given that he survived the attacks, but his family did not. At trial, the government contended that Colette had caused all of the wounds except for one to his lung, which they said was self-inflicted.
The government contended that a surgeon would know how to injure himself "safely", and the seriousness of MacDonald's collapsed lung was minimized at trial. Five of the six doctors consulted at the Army Hearing (Article 32) testified that MacDonald could not have predicted the outcome of what they termed a very "serious" stab wound to the chest, which collapsed the lung by 40%. All agreed that the liver could have been damaged, with death resulting, and that even a doctor would not be able to predict the outcome of such a wound, should he inflict in on himself.
Interestingly, MacDonald's wounds were never photographed, while those his family suffered were rigorously documented. Womack Hospital photographer John McCaffrey waited for a request
to record MacDonald's wounds, but it never came. "Somebody goofed," he said.
However, eye witness accounts and medical records describe injuries to MacDonald that go far beyond those minimized by the prosecution.
For example, the government claimed that MacDonald had only a small bruise to the head. Doctors Paul Manson and Robert McGann both observed and testified to seeing " a large contusion" over his left mid-forehead area, and another one over the right temple, slightly obscured by the hairline.
Friend and fellow officer Ron Harrison, when interviewed by the CID, stated that when he went to the hospital, he not only observed the bruises on the front of MacDonald's head, but lumps at the back of the head, and numerous wounds to the chest, arms and abdomen, and what he believed to be ice pick wounds to the neck.
Dr. Straub, at Womack Hospital, examined Jeffrey MacDonald's abdominal wound. He testified at the Army hearing that he "spread it apart, as I recall, and saw that it had gone through a great deal of the muscle of the abdominal wall."
The government made a point of claiming MacDonald suffered no wounds to the hands or arms. But Dr. Severt Jacobson, also of Womack Hospital, described to the grand jury in 1974 cuts he observed to MacDonald's forearms and hand "from a very sharp object". The government also claimed there were only superficial wounds to the chest, other than the stab wound, and no ice pick wounds. But Dr. Jacobson told of seeing four puncture wounds to the upper chest, and multiple punctures elsewhere (arms, abdomen). The puncture wounds were corroborated by Dr. Robert McGann and officer Ron Harrison.
Dr. Frank E. Gemma, an Army surgeon wrote a report on MacDonald's injuries upon his admission to Womack Hospital. He, too, noted "several small puncture wounds that may have come from an instrument such as
an icepick."
In order to protect their scenario of Colette injuring her husband in self-defense, the government ignored any and all mention of ice pick wounds in the records. It would have been implausible for Colette to have been wielding not only a knife and a club, but an ice pick, as well. The presence of three different types of wounds from three different types of weapons gave credence to MacDonald's account of multiple intruders.
Considering all the statements from medical personnel, hospital records and eye witnesses, MacDonald summarily suffered at least seventeen stab wounds to the hands, arms, and torso, stabbings through the muscle in the bicep and abdomen, a stab wound to the lung requiring a chest tube and two surgeries, and multiple contusions to the head. He required resuscitation at the murder scene. He could not save his family because he was knocked unconscious.
Colette was found with a piece of gouged skin lodged under one of her fingernails. Kimberley, Kristen and their mother were all found with foreign hairs, unmatched to their father, under their nails. There were no scratch or gouge marks found on Jeffrey MacDonald."
http://www.themacdonaldcase.org/Case_Facts.html
