In his first five minutes on the job, Kragh had stumbled upon a sea change in trauma care that took place during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Though used for centuries, both on the battlefield and in the operating room, tourniquets have always been somewhat controversial. A tourniquet left on too long will lead to loss of a limb. Also, tourniquets have often been improvised under duress, from straps or other handy materials, so their effectiveness is unsurprisingly a hit-or-miss affair. After World War II they were considered a treatment of last resort, and their use was officially
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