A6

By CHRIS SHANNON
The Canadian Press

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SYDNEY, N.S. - A surgeon who treated a Canadian soldier who was shot in a tent in Afghanistan gave details Monday of the desperate medical efforts to save the corporal.

Kevin Megeney died at the Kandahar airfield base in March 2007, after receiving a single bullet to his chest.

Retired Cmdr. Dennis Filips, a trauma surgeon, testified as an expert witness at the Cpl. Matthew Wilcox court martial at Victoria Park.

Wilcox, 23, of Glace Bay, a member of the 2nd Battalion of the Nova Scotia Highlanders, is charged with manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and negligent performance of duty, in Cpl. Kevin Megeney's death.

Filips said Megeney was immediately lifted on to a stretcher by friends and an American medic before being rushed to the Role 3 hospital about 200 metres away from the scene of the shooting.

The 25-year-old Megeney was given mouth-to-mouth resuscitation when Filips entered the hospital room shortly after 6:30 p.m. on March 6, 2007.

Filips said the wound was small, just below the right nipple and there were no burn marks or gun powder residue found on his chest.

Witnesses have testified that Wilcox and Megeney were alone in their tent when a single shot was fired from Wilcox's Browning nine-millimetre army-issued pistol.

A witness has testified that the two had been playing a game of quick draw.

The shot was likely not at "extreme close range" but instead came from several feet away, Filips said.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation had already been performed for 10 minutes before reaching the hospital, and in the absence of vital signs, Filips said there were few options left except to open up the chest cavity.

"We physically moved the large amount of blood and blood clots in the chest cavity to see what was going on," said Filips, who, after 20 years in the military, now works with the Canadian Forces on a contractual basis and is also employed as a general trauma surgeon in Alberta.

An attempt was made to stop the bleeding by clamping the aorta, the largest blood vessel in the body off of the heart's left ventricle, and a clamp to stop the bleeding in the left lung.

The bullet hit Megeney's spine before exiting his body at the left shoulder blade, he said.

After 30 minutes, the medical team of six to eight doctors massaged his heart manually. Adrenaline was also injected to try to establish a cardiac rhythm.

Filips said there was "essentially no blood left to circulate."

Megeney was pronounced dead at 7:02 p.m., although Filips said he believed the soldier, originally from Stellarton, N.S., actually died 10 minutes before reaching the hospital.

Earlier in the day, a prosecution witness said during cross-examination that he didn't feel safe carrying a loaded Browning nine-millimetre pistol around the Kandahar base because he felt the weapon was "too old."

"I just didn't like it pointed at my foot," Master Cpl. Matthew McKay said. "The safety mechanism ... I didn't trust it."

"It's an old weapon known to have malfunctions."

The soldier, also a member of 2nd Battalion of the Nova Scotia Highlander, is a body guard in charge of protecting high-level officials in Kabul, Afghanistan. He was the first person to enter the tent following the screams for help.

Testimony continues this morning with the cross-examination of Filips.