Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

Oswald had a ruptured aorta. He was shot at 11:20. He got to the hospital at 11:30. He was seen in the ER at 11:35. He was in the operating room at 11:40. But, he had a ruptured aorta, as well as a ruptured vena cava, and a ruptured superior mesenteric artery, plus a great deal more bleeding and trauma. 

David Wyn Williams, 52,  a father of two, crossed a solid white line to overtake two cars on a bend when he crashed into an oncoming blue Vauxhall Zafira. He was thrown 10-15ft into the air and died instantly from a ruptured aorta.

A 57-year-old loading dock worker was helping to load sheet rock onto a flat bed truck. While a partner was using a heavy duty forklift to position a large load of sheet rock, the forklift suddenly lurched forward pinning the victim to the truck, causing extensive injuries to chest and abdomen. He died instantly from a ruptured aorta and other major blood vessels.

Jack missed the gate and went for the inside line; as he did so he clipped Vandenberg's rear wheel, lost control and crashed in to a lamp standard. He died instantly from a ruptured aorta.

Stuart, instead of landing straight ahead in an open field, tried to complete a circuit back to the takeoff runway but only got halfway there before complete control was lost and he crashed beside the main runway. Stuart died instantly from a ruptured aorta.

An autopsy Monday indicated the entry wound was found in the upper left side of the back, and a .22 caliber bullet was recovered from the chest cavity. Johannsen, a former Pocatello employe of Pacific Fruit Express and Garret! Freightlines, died instantly from a ruptured aorta caused by the .22 caliber gunshot wound.

A 7ft 2in teenager who wanted to be the next Rock had steroids in his body when he suddenly died of a ruptured aorta, an inquest heard.

Andrej Gajdos, 19, who went to the gym twice a day, collapsed outside a Tesco store in Weston-super-Mare in Somerset after tearing a section of the main artery in his chest. The college student could not be revived and died almost instantly, an inquest at Avon Coroners' Court was told.

 Actor John Ritter died suddenly in 2003 from a tear in his thoracic aorta—the large artery that carries blood from the heart to the rest of the body.


The pair told the hearing how their friend made a run for it in an attempt to cross the road but all they heard a loud bang and saw their colleague thrown through the air due to the force of the impact. Able Seaman Anthony Longstaff, who rushed into the road to check on his friend, said: “His eyes were open, I didn’t check to see if he was breathing but he seemed lifeless. I couldn’t feel a pulse, he didn’t make any noise and was completely still.” Pathologist Jan Lowe said Mr Gamesby must have died instantly and the cause of death was shock and haemorage, which occurred due to multiple injuries including a ruptured aorta from chest trauma.

Death occurs immediately after traumatic rupture of the thoracic aorta 75%–90% of the time since bleeding is so severe. Wikipedia.

In August 1963, Senator Estes Kefauver died suddenly of an aortic rupture at the Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland.