Medicine: Better Care for Burn Victims

Of all bodily injuries, few are more traumatic than burns. By searing through flesh and muscle, destroying nerves and blood vessels, and setting up a fertile breeding ground for infection, burns can cripple, disfigure and kill. Last year alone, approximately 7,500 Americans, 1,800 of them under age 15, died of burns. Although this toll is fearsome, the number of burn deaths has remained relatively constant while the population has increased, and the recovery rate from serious burns has improved significantly. The reason: better care for burn victims.

Since 1947, twelve U.S. hospitals have...