The Amtrak conductor shot as he stood on the rail platform of the Naperville train station faces multiple surgeries and months in the hospital before he can be released, a doctor said Wednesday.
Dr. David Piazza, medical director of trauma surgery at Edward Hospital in Naperville, said Michael Case, 45, of Homewood, will have a “long hard slog” on his road to recovery. “He’s going to be out of commission for six to nine months,” Piazza said.
The bullet went through Case’s abdomen, penetrating his intestine, including a portion right below the stomach, he said. The head of the pancreas also was damaged and Case’s colon had to be removed.
“This is a very significant area to be injured,” Piazza said. “A lot of things come together at this site, including the contents from the stomach, the bile from the liver and the fluid from the pancreas.
“Even if you don’t eat anything, two to three liters will come through that area through 24 hours so it’s a notoriously difficult area to treat,” he said.
Because so much is happening at the juncture, surgery was required Wednesday afternoon so Drs. George Salti and Beatrice Klade could do what Piazza described as “car wash,” cleaning the wounded areas and rerouting drainage from the organs.
“We’ve always known we would have to take him back at least one more time and probably two or three more times,” he said.
Case remains in critical but stable condition, and has been able to consume green gelatin, clear liquids and ginger ale by request, he said.
The suspect in his May 16 shooting, Edward Klein, 79, of West Allis, Wis., has been charged with attempted murder. Klein is being held at the DuPage County jail in lieu of $1.5 million bail and is to undergo a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation.
Klein was returning to Milwaukee from Kansas by train, and tried to get off in Naperville, according to his defense attorney. Amtrak personnel, aware that Klein needed to switch trains at Chicago’s Union Station, closed the train’s door to keep him from leaving.
Apparently angry he could not disembark, Klein fired his gun out a window at Case, who was standing on the rail platform, police said.
Case is lucky to be alive, Piazza said.
“The abdomen is packed like a suitcase,” he said. “If you decided to shoot a bullet through your suitcase, it would hit your aftershave, your sock, your this or that.”
The bullet missed “some very significant vessels by millimeters,” he said. “Most people with an injury near this site don’t make it,” Piazza said.
The quick response by emergency workers and the Edward Hospital trauma staff was critical to Case’s survival, he added.
The 911 call came in at 4:45 p.m. and Case was in the hospital’s emergency room at 5:07 p.m., where he had to be resuscitated, Piazza said. Just 50 minutes later, he was in an operating room with the on-call trauma team for surgery that would last six hours.
Piazza said Case is a good patient, describing him as “pleasant,” “laid back” and “very conversive.”
“Sara is the wife (of Michael) and she is asking for everybody’s thoughts and prayers,” Piazza said on behalf of the family, who declined to speak Wednesday because of the surgery.
Several crowd-funding sites, such as GoFundMe, were established by friends, fellow Navy veterans and Amtrak co-workers to help Case and his family with medical and other expenses.
