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MEDICAL STUDENT

PERSPECTIVES

INCREASING MASS VIOLENCE IN AMERICA WILL BE
AN ONGOING CHALLENGE FOR NEW DOCTORS

By Zach Coates

As a second-year medical student, the past year and a half has been full of learning, experi-
encing, and observing. I witnessed myself and my classmates grow as we began our futures in
medicine at UT Health San Antonio. Unfortunately, in our short time in medical school, we also
witnessed three of the five deadliest shootings in American history. Shootings in Las Vegas, Or-
lando, and Sutherland Springs in 2016 and 2017 have left over 130 dead and countless more with
collateral damage. More importantly, we are witnessing a frightening trend in our society that
shows no signs of slowing. The increasing incidence of mass violence in America is a problem
that student doctors need to begin to address as our society recovers from these tragedies. Our
involvement in our country’s future is twofold; we hold a responsibility to begin to understand
why mass violence is increasing and we should take steps in order to prepare ourselves for in-
evitable mass casualty events in the future.

Increasing incidences of mass shootings is undoubtedly a multifactorial problem with no ob-
vious cause or solution. As student doctors, we need to begin to think about why these tragedies
continue to persist throughout our society and how we can solve this problem. One advantage that our students have over the last gen-
eration of doctors is that we are a product of the same generation as the perpetrators. Four out of the five deadliest shootings in Amer-
ican history involve gunmen under the age of 30. Similarly, 10 of the 17 (59%) deadliest shootings in America since the year 2000 have
involved gunmen under 30. In contrast, before the year 2000, only 4 of 13 (31%) gunmen were under the age of 30. These statistics,
along with the fact that the past three of five shootings happened in the past year and a half, show an increasing number of relatively
young perpetrators involved in a rising number of more deadly shootings. As student doctors, we have a responsibility to think about
why these events are occurring in our generation and, in collaboration with past generations, begin to understand why shootings are on
the rise. What makes our generation different from those prior? In what ways were we raised differently that set us apart? In what ways
has our society changed that could explain this phenomenon? Through holding discussions and asking ourselves these types of questions,
we can begin to solve the problem of why there is an increasing rate of mass violence in America.
Unfortunately, future mass shooting events are inevitable. The shooting in Sutherland Springs was a wakeup call to me as a medical
student in more ways than one. I heard firsthand accounts of students experiencing and witnessing the tragedy as victims were brought
to UT Health affiliated hospitals. Through these accounts I realized that my classmates and I would one day be caring for these victims.
In the UT Health medical school graduating class of 2017 alone, one student is completing residency in Orlando, another in Las Vegas,
and many in San Antonio. These students, along with students from each future graduating class, will care for future victims of mass
casualty and we need to be prepared to handle these situations in regards to both trauma response and long-term effects on survivors
and those in the community.
As student doctors we should take active steps to prepare ourselves for future events. This includes learning and understanding pro-
tocols for mass violence events in the hospitals and participating in mock drills to simulate mass violence. Preparing for such an event
is difficult to learn from a textbook, and in this way we will prepare ourselves to care for victims that we will inevitably encounter in
the future. Additionally, we should emphasize education focusing on long-term effects of mass violence. Examples include understanding
psychological damage after a mass violence event, knowing normal responses to these events, and knowing how to care for patients
who have experienced these tragedies.
In a short time, we will travel to all parts of the country and we will, in one way or another, become involved in more fields than just
medicine. Our actions now will shape our ideas for the future when we will be in positions of power to influence change in our society.
The increasing number of mass shootings in the United States continues to be a worsening problem that medical students need to
begin addressing. As we continue in our education, we need to put our minds together to understand these problems and better prepare
ourselves for our careers in medicine.

Zach Coates is an MS2 at UTHSA

24 San Antonio Medicine • January 2018