Re: “Dozens treated for fireworks injuries in Seattle; at least 1 patient loses hand” (July 8, Northwest):
My father was a watch surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore beginning within the late Nineteen Fifties, and my uncle was a hand surgeon at a distinct Baltimore hospital (Union Memorial). Their careers spanned a long time, and so they each lamented the hazards of fireworks and the horrible injury fireworks might do to palms and eyes. They each stated that July 4th and fifth had been all the time the worst days of the yr for them.
Within the mid-Nineteen Sixties, they went collectively to testify on the Maryland State Legislature, together with different medical doctors, for stricter regulation and elevated security measures for the fireworks business. Their efforts had been profitable!
And although there have been nonetheless some fireworks accidents yearly from unlawful fireworks (as a result of these can all the time be discovered if somebody is set), I like to think about all of the tragedy they prevented via their efforts and the efforts of their colleagues to avoid wasting the imaginative and prescient and the 10-fingered palms of everybody celebrating what needs to be a cheerful and enjoyable vacation.
Edith Wolff, Seattle
