In 1957 US Army surgeon Douglas Lindsey wrote about the ‘much-maligned’ and ‘controversial’ tourniquet for controlling limb hemorrhage. “Many decry its use. Others consider it indispensable. Some label it a technique of last resort. A few exhort that it should be used without delay” [1].
A few battlefield descriptions, dead soldiers with extremity injury being the only apparent wound, and some anecdotal evidence and we are left with the admonition to avoid “too little, too loose, and too late.” A strong recommendation, but Dr. Lindsey stops short of condoning widespread use. “The question of issuing a tourniquet to every soldier and citizen is, I admit, a controversial one.”
