Iraq: caring for patients with unhealed wounds

A bomb had gone off in the neighborhood. The blast was not close enough to kill Saad, but it mangled his leg, fracturing his tibia and fibula. Unconscious, he was rushed to a hospital for surgery. “The first surgery I had consisted of inserting an internal fixation into my leg to enable me to walk again,” he said. This surgical method of stabilizing broken bones should have put Saad on the road to healing, but he suffered complications. “The recovery was excruciating,” he said.