SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — Dr. David Lehmann’s patients don’t visit him. He goes to them.
He’s the doctor seen treating a homeless man’s gruesome skin wounds in a video going viral on social media posted by homeless advocacy group In My Father’s Kitchen.
Dr. Lehmann tells NewsChannel 9 the lesions were caused by dull needles not able to penetrate the man’s veins, instead leaving the drug Xylazine embedded in his skin.
The doctor says he’s seeing more and more street drugs being laced with the horse tranquilizer, leaving its users’ skin basically burning away.
It’s a new trend that makes Dr. Lehmann’s mobile work more important.
About six years ago, he joined In My Father’s Kitchen founder John Tumino in meeting homeless people and working to build relationships with them.
Lehmann, an Upstate professor, was inspired to start “Housecalls For The Homeless” by shifts at the Emergency Department, where he remembers seeing a homeless man coming in over and over for the same blood infection.