Earlier this month, Dr Craig A. Miller, a vascular surgeon and medical historian who authors the Miller Medical History newsletter on Substack, shared previously unseen footage of Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Allen Collins playing guitar in hospital, shortly after the 1977 plane crash that killed three members of the band (frontman Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist and vocalist Steve Gaines, and backing singer Cassie Gaines).
In the footage, Collins is wearing what appears to be hospital pyjamas or surgical scrubs, while a neck brace and an orthopaedic fixator (a device used to stabilise broken bones) attached to his left arm are evidence of his recent injuries. In the crash, Collins cracked two vertebrae in his neck, and a cut to his right arm was so severe that amputation was considered.
