'JFK: What the Doctors Saw' Premieres

Documentary on Dallas doctors who treated JFK undercuts the official narrative

The new documentary “JFK: What The Doctors Saw,” began streaming on Paramount+ this week, coinciding with the 60th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy that took place on November 22, 1963.

The film focuses on seven doctors who were present in Parkland Hospital’s Trauma Room One in Dallas where the mortally wounded Kennedy was delivered after being fired upon in Dealey Plaza.

In recounting what they saw at the time, the Parkland doctors often directly contradict the official findings of not only the later autopsy but of the entire assassination narrative as explained by the Warren Commission, e.g., that JFK was struck by two bullets fired behind him from a 6th floor window.

What’s more, they tell of intimidation efforts from authorities to keep them mum.

Included in the film is Dr. Robert McClelland, who arguably had the clearest view of the president’s head wound during the chaotic rush to save his life. He maintained for the rest of his life (he died in 2019) that he saw a large exit wound in the back of JFK’s head, which would indicate a shot from the front.

(The doctors were interviewed at a reunion a decade ago.)

Dr. McClelland’s daughter, Alison, recently appeared on the JFKFacts podcast to discuss her father’s experience.

Positive Reviews

The documentary has garnered positive notices.

“In case it’s less than glaringly obvious, I do believe these doctors, largely because what they say is consistent with what anyone can see if they watch the Zapruder film,” critic Mick LaSalle wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Rolling Stone spoke to executive producer Jacque Lueth, who became interested in the subject after her own doctor, who is one of the seven, introduced her to the others and she realized the official government story didn’t hold up.

“Based upon my interviews with the doctors, Jim Jenkins [Navy member present at the autopsy] and Robert Tanenbaum [Deputy Counsel of the House Select Committee on Assassinations], and my own research, there’s no question in my mind there was a government cover-up,” Lueth said.