Tourniquet could have saved Maui surfer's life
| • | Shark-attack victim loved ocean too much to worry about dangers |
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau
WAILUKU, Maui — With a severed artery and leg muscles shredded by the fierce bite of a large shark, Willis "Will" McInnis quickly bled to death in the ocean off Kahana Wednesday.
But McInnis might have had a chance if his rescuers had been able to apply a tourniquet on his right leg.
A tourniquet is what saved young Kaua'i surfers Hokuanu Aki and Bethany Hamilton when their limbs were torn away by sharks in recent attacks.
In McInnis' case, rescuers would have had to act quickly.
"The femoral artery is a very large artery. When it's severed, you bleed profusely. You lose consciousness and die within minutes," said Dr. Anthony Manoukian, Maui County medical examiner.
Manoukian, who conducted an autopsy on McInnis yesterday, said the 57-year-old Kahana man died roughly 22 minutes after the 7:08 a.m. bite that he described as especially severe. It was a wound to the right leg that matched the diameter of a shark's jaw, stretching 13.5 inches from the mid-thigh to just below the knee, he said.
The femoral artery, the main vessel that supplies blood to the leg, was completely severed, he said, as were the muscles around the bite wound. Only the bone was holding the leg together.
"I've never seen a shark bite quite like this one," Manoukian said.
The bite wounds — from what was likely a tiger shark 12 to 15 feet in length — indicate the animal took an initial bite and then apparently bit once more before releasing the victim, he said.
The autopsy also found wounds to McInnis' right thumb and pinkie finger, indicating that he took a swing at the shark to defend himself.
Manoukian said McInnis was a strong man who was nearly saved by his fitness and the strength of his heart. But, in the end, he lost too much blood.
He said McInnis very well could have survived had a tourniquet been applied.
Witnesses said a tourniquet was tied to the man's leg, but it was applied on shore after it was too late. Rescuers in the water reported focusing on keeping McInnis from drowning while battling waves and a rocky shoreline.
"It's a tough call," Manoukian said. "If you can't adequately place a tourniquet on in the water, then you get him into shore as soon as you can. But, if you can, concentrate on the tourniquet and wait for assistance to come to you."
Kaua'i orthopedic surgeon Dr. David Rovinsky, who treated both Aki and Hamilton, said the two survived only because of the presence of mind of those who applied tourniquets soon after the bites.
A nurse on the sand applied a tourniquet to Aki's left leg on March 25, 2002, after the 17-year-old was attacked at Brennecke's Beach in Po'ipu. When 13-year-old Hamilton's left arm was bitten off by a large tiger shark last Oct. 31, a surfer applied a tourniquet made from a rash guard while she was still in the surf. A surfboard leash later replaced the rash guard.
Holt Blanchard, the man who tied the turniquet around Hamilton's arm, said he was able to tie the tourniquet while balancing on a reef after paddling for three or four minutes after the bite. He said he wasn't sure he would be able to do the same thing in the open ocean.
"I was in shock, outside of myself," Blanchard said. "I think we got lucky."
With McInnis' femoral artery severed, he would have needed a tourniquet quickly, Rovinsky said. He was about 200 to 300 yards offshore.
"He would have lost a lot of blood real fast," he said.
Rovinsky, who is a surfer himself, said applying a tourniquet in the ocean is a tricky proposition.
"It would have been challenging and heroic," he said. "Everything would have had to come together perfectly for him to make it. "
Rovinsky said a younger person might have withstood greater blood loss.
"It was a miracle that Hoku and Bethany survived. And it would have been a miracle had this guy survived," Rovinsky said.
Manoukian said anyone applying a tourniquet should tie it very tightly. The goal is to cut off the blood supply.
"You have to stop the bleeding," he said.
Contact Timothy Hurley at thurley@honoluluadvertiser.com or call (808) 244-4880.
