Pioneering surgeon dies at 81

LAS VEGAS, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- Dr. Tom Shires, who was chief of surgery at the Dallas hospital where President John Kennedy was pronounced dead, has died at the age of 81.

Shires, who was in Galveston giving a talk on Nov. 23, 1963, was escorted back to Dallas by Texas Rangers to operate on Texas Gov. John Connally, who was wounded during the Kennedy assassination. He also examined Lee Harvey Oswald, the suspected assassin, who was shot and killed while he was in custody.

In addition to his brush with history at Parkland Memorial Hospital, Shires was known as a pioneering surgeon, The Los Angeles Times reported. In the 1960s, he developed the technique of administering saline solution to surgical patients and trauma victims, finding that it helps blood cells maintain their shape.

Shires died of gastrointestinal cancer at his home in Las Vegas, Nev., on Oct. 18, his daughter said. For the past 10 years he had been director of the trauma institute at the University of Nevada School of Medicine.