Local Trauma Specialist Reacts To Tragedy In Orlando

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The mass shooting in Orlando hits close to home for practitioners of emergency medicine, including one prominent trauma surgeon.

"I just think it's a terrible day for our country," Dr. Amy Goldberg tells KYW Newsradio.

Dr. Goldberg is chair of the surgery department at Temple Medical School. She says the AR-15 assault rifle used in the Orlando attack inflicts horrific wounds:

"Machine guns have a much higher kinetic energy, and therefore can cause so much damage to the patient -- bony injuries, and soft tissue injuries."

She says it takes an enormous coordination of resources to deal with multiple victims, especially so in Orlando, with just one Level 1 trauma center, to Philadelphia's five:

"But if the triage system works, then those that are most injured are really going to the Level 1 trauma center."

Goldberg, co-founder of the Cradle to Grave program aimed at reducing gun violence in Philadelphia, says Sunday's attack, while singular in its scope, is a symptom of an everyday problem with no simple solution:

"It gives us all a moment of pause, with regards to the availability of guns all over this country."