In the Blood: How Two Outsiders Solved a Centuries-Old Medical Mystery and Took on the U.S. Army

In this astonishing and often disturbing report, Wesleyan writer-in-residence Barber (Citizen Outlaw) reveals how hubris and obsession got in the way of U.S. Army’s efforts to stop “catastrophic bleeding” on the battlefield. In 1983, mechanical engineer Frank Hursey began investigating if the obscure mineral zeolite could absorb the water in blood, leaving the remainder “supersaturated with the elements that actually formed clots, thereby dramatically speeding up the clotting process.” Though his invention, named QuikClot, was adopted by other branches of the military, it took decades, and the help of an astute business partner, salesman Bart Gullong, before QuikClot was accepted by the U.S. Army. Barber attributes much the delay to Col. John Holcomb, an Army trauma surgeon who “experienced the agony of having patients bleed to death in [his] hands” during the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu and promoted other blood-clotting drugs, despite evidence that one of them, Factor Seven, had deadly side effects. Ultimately, a whistleblower lawsuit exposed the dangers of Factor Seven, and in 2008, QuikClot was officially recommended by the Committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care as “the first-line treatment for life-threatening hemorrhage that is not amenable to tourniquet placement.” Hursey’s invention also became standard issue for emergency responders around the country. Barber draws on extensive interviews with Hursey, Gullong, and veterans who lives were saved by QuikClot, and briskly explains medical, legal, and military matters. This story of innovation and persistence merits a wide audience. (May)