5-year-old among critically wounded in Boston Marathon blasts

BOSTON The trauma surgery chief at Boston Medical Center says a 5-year-old is among the 19 patients still being treated there for injures received during the marathon bombings and that all are expected to survive.

Dr. Peter Burke said Wednesday morning that the hospital treated 23 people following the blasts, performing a total of seven amputations. He said two patients, including the 5-year-old, remain critical, but that all patients are making progress.

"Until they are home," Burke said, "I won't be satisfied."

The doctor said that the bulk of the injuries were to lower extremities.

"I think the damage was low to the ground and wasn't up," he said. "The patients who do have head injuries were blown into things or were hit by fragments that went up."

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Burke said a large volume of fragments were pulled from the patients and were sent to a pathologist, where they would be available for police to examine.

The surgeon also acknowledged that many of the patients would experience posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

"There's no magic bullets to prevent this," he said. "(PTSD) can be with these patients forever."

Dozens of patients have been released from hospitals around the Boston area.

Massachusetts General Hospital spokeswoman Katie Marquedant said all but 12 of the 31 people sent there have been released. Eight are still in critical condition.

Brigham and Women's Hospital still has 15 of its original 31 patients, and reported that five are in critical condition. A spokesman there could not say how many patients had been released and how many had been transferred to other facilities.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center still has 13 of the 24 people originally sent there. Boston Children's Hospital has released seven of its original 10 patient. The three remaining are all children. A 2-year-old boy with a head injury is in good condition; a 10-year-old boy with multiple leg injuries is in critical condition and a 9-year-old girl with a leg injury also is in critical condition.

Tufts Medical Center has released half of its 14 bombing patients.

There were 27 patients who were treated and released from St. Elizabeth's, Carney Hospital, and Norwood Hospital.