ARRB Medical Testimony

Because of the highly controversial and conflicted medical testimony in the JFK assassination, and the lack of a chain-of-custody for so many important evidentiary materials, the ARRB decided to conduct sworn depositions to "clarify the medical evidence."

In 1996 through 1998, testimony was taken from nine persons present at Kennedy's autopsy, two others who were involved in processing or disseminating photographs of the autopsy, and five doctors who treated JFK in Parkland Hospital in Dallas. For those familiar with the medical evidence in the case, these detailed interviews contain a wealth of material and have fueled the debate over the nature of Kennedy's wounds and the direction of shots which caused them.

Some of the testimony directly impugns the very authenticity of autopsy materials. For instance, the ARRB interviewed Saundra Kay Spencer, who processed autopsy photographs the weekend of the assassination, and testified that the photos now in the National Archives are not the ones she developed. Similarly autopsy photographer John Stringer disavowed the photos of the brain held in the Archives. These depositions are "must reading" for those with an interest in the medical aspects of the case.