BALTIMORE — A new review article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association by doctors at the University of Maryland School of Medicine reveals a significant gap in long-term care for gunshot victims.
WATCH: UMD Study: gunshot survivors face critical gaps in long-term care
Three doctors from the School of Medicine discovered there is a critical need for quality long-term care for patients who have been shot.
In 2022, over 120,000 patients across the country were shot and survived.
"So as you can imagine, there's ongoing care, ongoing needs that those individuals require in order to continue to fully recover. Sometimes they see somebody like me, a trauma surgeon in a clinic; oftentimes they go back to their primary care, and they go back to their primary care with issues that they don't necessarily handle on an everyday basis," said Dr. Bethany Strong, a trauma surgeon at UMSOM practicing at UM Capital Region Medical Center.
While there are emergency protocols in place, long-term recovery paths for survivors remain inconsistent.
"The vast majority of those who suffered a gunshot wound, can have daily chronic pain for up to a year after their injury, far worse than anyone who was in a motor vehicle crash or something of that nature," said Dr. Strong.
Victims like Marquis Millner, who was shot in his spine, face life-altering consequences.
"I heard, you know, what was gun shots but I didn't know at the time; next thing you know, my body just dropped," said Millner.
He says after waking up weeks later in the hospital, his life was never the same.
"I needed my physical therapist, my mental therapist; I needed all that at the right time at the same time, so it's no one that helped me the most," said Millner.
Other gunshot victims who may only carry some physical scars say the emotional scars are worse.
"I became homeless after I got shot because I don't have children under the age of 18, because I didn't live in the projects, because I wasn't on Section 8, because I was a worker, because I did make five dollars over the poverty line. Help me," said Watts.
Donita Watts says she is hoping medical care facilities come up with better ways to help survivors.
"There are resources, but make sure the resources fit everybody, everybody," said Watts.
Dr. Bethany Strong, a trauma surgeon at UMSOM practicing at UM Capital Region Medical Center, emphasized the need for comprehensive care.
"Just treating people and sending them out and treating them and sending them out didn't lead to any real recovery. So the ability to acknowledge the public health nature of this issue is really going to lead to the change that we need," said Dr. Strong.
Dr. Strong says, in addition to increased medical care support for survivors, nonprofits and other organizations should try and offer more post-care for victims as well until there are better solutions to the issue of gun violence in the country.
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