About the Author

A native of Red Oak, Iowa, Dr. Allen Clarence Hassan is a physician, a surgeon, an attorney, a veterinarian, and an educator.

As a physician and surgeon, the author of Failure to Atone: The True Story of a Jungle Surgeon in Vietnam served two tours of duty in Vietnam -- the first as a representative of the American Medical Association’s Volunteer Physicians for Vietnam program, and the second as a representative of the Committee of Responsibility. After two tours in Vietnam witnessing civilians wounded and traumatized by war, Dr. Hassan has devoted much of his life to humanitarian service.

Dr. Hassan is an active member of the Flying Samaritans, doctors who volunteer their services to provide free medical help to the people in Baja, Mexico. A diplomate with American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress, Dr. Hassan is also an expert evaluator of traumatic stress disorder and other war-related injuries that afflict American veterans.

One of only a small number of Americans to hold both a medical and legal degree, in addition to a degree in veterinary medicine, Dr. Hassan served as president of the local Academy of Family Physicians in 1977, and president of the Academy of Law in Medicine in 1983. He is a diplomate with the American Board of Family Practice, the American College of Legal Medicine, the American Board of Forensic Examiners, and the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress. Dr. Hassan is also board-qualified in sports medicine. He was a clinical instructor in family practice at the University of California-Davis medical school in Davis, California from 1976-1986

Dr. Hassan served in the US Marine Corps from 1954-1957. In the Marine Corps, he achieved the rank of sergeant, and received an appointment to Annapolis. Dr. Hassan received a DVM from Iowa State University in 1962, an MD from the University of Iowa in 1966, and a JD from Lincoln University in 1978. He became a full Commander in the US Coast Guard in 1986.

Dr. Hassan’s publications include articles in The New England Journal of Medicine and the medical text, Evaluation, Treatment and Prevention of Head and/or Spinal Injury Problems, edited by Gervase Flick, MD, JD. He is at work on a new book on the medical and psychological evaluation of veterans injured and traumatized by war, tentatively titled Invisible Wounds.

Dr. Hassan addresses the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Sacramento, California, in 2005.

Dr. Hassan has returned to Vietnam several times as a private citizen, and he retains a deep love for the country and its people. He currently practices law and medicine in Sacramento, California.

Co-writer David Drum is a health writer based in Los Angeles.