Orthopedic surgeon who voluntarily went to the hospital to help Boston Marathon victims: 'Everyone just pulled together. Everyone stepped up'

This morning Boston-area hospitals have released at least 100 of the 183 people injured in Monday's Boston Marathon attack. New information has also been released regarding the third person killed – a Chinese graduate student who was studying at Boston University. Dr. Arun Ramappa is an orthopedic surgeon at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He was at his office when he heard about the attack and went to the hospital voluntarily to help out. This morning he joins “Starting Point” to discuss what it was like in the operating room assisting the victims of the Boston Marathon aftermath.

When he arrived at the hospital Ramappa says it was unlike anything that he had ever seen due to the “number of very highly injured people who were coming into the emergency room… in a short span of time.”

Ramappa says there were a large number of blast injuries to the lower extremities which involves “the bone and the soft tissue of the legs.” He adds that there was shrapnel in many of the injuries “including metal pieces, nails BBs and ball bearing type objects.”

Although a tremendous number of nursing staff, surgeons, doctors were not at the hospital due to the holiday Ramappa says “Everyone just pulled together. Everyone stepped up.” He adds that many hospital staff members “showed up to the hospital voluntarily without being called. And so everyone came together as a team and worked together to help care for all these people.”