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Dozens of Boston blast patients leave hospitals

BOSTON (AP) - Officials at three Boston hospitals that treated some of the most seriously injured from Monday's bombing at the Boston Marathon said Wednesday they expect all of their patients to survive.

The trauma surgery chief at Boston Medical Center says a 5-year-old boy is among the 19 patients still being treated there for injuries received during the marathon bombings.

Dr. Peter Burke said Wednesday morning that the hospital treated 23 people following the blasts. He said two patients, including the 5-year-old, remain critical, but that all patients are making progress.

"We have a lot of lower extremity injuries, so I think the damage was low to the ground and wasn't up," he said. "The patients who do have head injuries were blown into things or were hit by fragments that went up."

At least 10 Boston area hospitals treated more than 170 patients following the bombings, and at least 14 were still in critical condition Wednesday. Dozens of patients have been released.

Massachusetts General Hospital spokeswoman Katie Marquedant said all but 11 of the 31 people sent there have been released. Four were still in critical condition, but she said all of them were expected to live.

Brigham and Women's Hospital spokesman Tom Langford said his hospital also no longer has any injuries that are considered life threatening. Twelve of the 35 patients it has treated were still there, and four were in critical condition, he said. The hospital originally had reported treating 31 people, but he said others had come into the hospital during the past two days on their own, seeking treatment of bomb-related injuries.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center still has 13 of the 24 people originally sent there.

Boston Children's Hospital has released seven of its original 10 patient. The three remaining are all children. A 2-year-old boy with a head injury is in good condition; a 10-year-old boy with multiple leg injuries is in critical condition and a 9-year-old girl with a leg injury also is in critical condition.

Tufts Medical Center said five patients are still at the hospital with injuries; none are in critical condition. Nine patients have been discharged. The hospital said none of their patients have had any amputations and said they don't anticipate any of them will need amputations.

Dr. Horacio Hojman, the associate chief of trauma at Tufts, said many of the injuries his hospital saw were soft-tissue wounds. He said he was impressed by the attitude of the patients.

"Despite what they witnessed, despite what they suffered, despite many of them having life-threatening injuries, their spirits were not broken," he said.

There were 27 patients who were treated at St. Elizabeth's, Carney Hospital and Norwood Hospital and released.