WASHINGTON – In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, Dr. Lenworth Jacobs, a regent of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and vice president of academic affairs at Hartford (Conn.) Hospital, was called to examine the autopsies of the victims. What he saw affected him so profoundly that he asked the ACS how surgeons might help communities to respond to such chaotic tragedies and minimize the enormous loss of life that occurs.
The resulting Hartford Consensus – a document created by members of the ACS, the FBI, and various law enforcement and military organizations that calls for a new paradigm in emergency response – was presented at the annual clinical congress of the American College of Surgeons.