NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — At least a dozen Tennessee children have already died in accidental shootings this year, with the latest incident taking the life of a 15-year-old in Nashville.
It’s a harsh reality seen behind the hospital doors of the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. It’s a place where doctors watch children grow into adults, but some find it turning into the very place where they have to watch some children take their last breath.
“My heart breaks, more and more each time, and man, I’m going to be left with almost no heart left if this is the trajectory that we keep going on,” explained Kelsey Gastineau, an assistant professor of pediatric hospital medicine. “Children come into the hospital for all sorts of reasons. I’m a hospitalist — I see them for asthma, I see them for diabetes, I see them for infections. The difference about firearm injuries is that they are entirely preventable.”
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