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Donald A. "Andy" Purdy was a staff member for the House Select Committee on
Assassinations. Purdy, along with fellow staffer Mark Flanagan, conducted most of the
medical interviews for the HSCA. Only the three autopsy doctors and radiologist John Ebersole
appear to have been interviewed directly by the HSCA's nine-member medical panel. Further, as
Purdy lamented in this interview, the interviews with witnesses who did not corroborate the
HSCA's medical findings were not included in the published reports. Purdy also discussed with
the ARRB staffers the details of the HSCA search for JFK's missing brain, and gave his overall
opinions on the case. Excerpts
| ARRB staffers asked Purdy if
he had shown the drawings (made from autopsy photos) and X-rays to the Dallas doctors he
interviewed. The interview transcripts seem to indicate that he did not, and Purdy had no
recollection which would dispute this. |
| Purdy lamented that the
interviews he took were not published (and were in fact misrepresented) in the HSCA's published
reports, calling this action "embarrassing," "shocking," and "inexcusable." |
| This discussion concerned the
issue that many witnesses reported a large hole in the back of Kennedy's head, something not
seen in autopsy photos. Purdy disputed Dr. Gary Aguilar's views on the meaning of this. |
| In this short excerpt,
Purdy expressed his views on the truthfulness of autopsy doctors Humes and Boswell. |
| This excerpt addresses the
question of whether the medical panel left working notes behind. |
| Purdy advised the ARRB to
prepare for their upcoming depositions of Humes and Boswell "like you prepare for nothing
in your life." |
| Purdy described his impression
of Humes and Boswell, and gave more advice to the ARRB on how to handle their depositions. |
| Purdy discussed the controversy
of whether the entrance wound in Kennedy's head was located. |
| Purdy described how Dr. Petty
took Dr. Humes out of the room during the medical panel interview to "set him straight" on
the entrance wound location. |
| This excerpt elaborates on the
Petty-Humes excursion noted in excerpt 9. Also mentioned was Humes' public HSCA recantation of
the "low wound" and his 1992 reversal in a JAMA article (Journal of the American Medical
Association). |
| ARRB staff members questioned
Purdy for awhile about the HSCA's attempt to find out what had happened to the President's
missing brain. In this excerpt, photos of a 1967 reinterment were discussed. See the end of
segment 1 and the first several minutes of segment 2 for more discussion of the brain search. |
| Purdy was asked his opinion
of the overall assassination case in 1996, and he gave his reply. |
| Purdy discussed the issue
of how Jack Ruby got into the Dallas Police Department basement to shoot Oswald, focusing on
Sergeant Patrick Dean. |
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