Abstract
Statistics compiled by the Department of Health and Human Service indicate that for Americans between the ages of 15 and 24 the combined death rate from motor vehicle accidents, homicides, and suicides has risen by 50 percent since 1976. Among young whites motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death, accounting for about 40 percent, whereas, among young blacks homicide is the leading cause of death, accounting for approximately the same percentage. Trauma patients currently take up a total of about 19 million hospital days per year in the U.S., more than the number needed by all heart-disease patients and four times the number needed by all cancer patients.