Gov't Struggles to Cope with Wounded GIs ("signature wound: traumatic brain injury")

Source: Associated Press

Gov't struggles to cope with wounded GIs
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Medical Writer
46 minutes ago

More than 800 of them have lost an arm, a leg, fingers or toes. More than 100 are blind. Dozens need tubes and machines to keep them alive. Hundreds are disfigured by burns, and thousands have brain injuries and mangled minds.

These are America's war wounded, a toll that has received less attention than the 3,500 troops killed in Iraq. Depending on how you count them, they number between 35,000 and 53,000.

More of them are coming home, with injuries of a scope and magnitude the government did not predict and is now struggling to treat.

"If we left Iraq tomorrow, we would have the legacy of all these people for many years to come," said Dr. Jeffrey Drazen, editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine and an adviser to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. "The military simply wasn't prepared for its own success" at keeping severely wounded soldiers alive, he said.

Survival rates today are even higher than the record levels set early in the war, thanks to body armor and better care. For every American soldier or Marine killed in Iraq, 15 others have survived illness or injury there. Unlike previous wars, few of them have been shot. The signature weapon of this war — the improvised explosive device, or IED — has left a signature wound: traumatic brain injury.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070623/ap_on_he_me/coming_home_wounded

...compare to prior major wars including WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam? It seems to be increasing. I suspect that explosive concussion damage is much higher, but can it also be related to less head protection? Are the new helmets not offering proper protection?

but the survival rate is vastly higher

head trauma like we have now was nearly 100% fatal a decade or so ago

The brutality of this war all they want but the americans will start waking up from their slumber as the wounded vets come home and are integrated back in neighborhoods all around america. Then more and more americans will realize this war is not a video game on TV there are real lives at stake here. WAKE UP AMERICA THESE ARE OUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS, BROTHERS AND SISTERS LIVE THAT ARE BEING TORN APART, WE GOT TO START PURGING THOSE WARMONGER FROM OUR GOVERNMENT STARTING NOW.

:patriot:

This soldier died earlier this week.

:(
rocknation

That is 1 thing that makes it bad. Mr. Sandoval's injury was horrific and very very sad. I hope he is at peace and I feel for his family and friends.

TBI often leaves no visible sign. People's problems may not be taken seriously because of this. But they can have very serious problems.

Edited to add a couple links
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/tbi/tbi.htm
http://traumaticbraininjury.com/
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/tbi/TBI.htm

KNSD-TV
10:45 a.m. PDT June 19, 2007

SAN DIEGO - A local soldier loses his long battle to recover from injuries he suffered after a bomb exploded in Iraq.
Images: December 2006

Images: San Diego's Fallen Troops

Images: San Diego Troops: Vol. 1 | Vol. 2 | Vol. 3

:(

even without any PTSD, TBI is a nasty thing. Getting 1 concussion is ok, having more than 1 within a yr causes permanent damage. Having 6 in a month is insane.

ecause they had not figured the medical costs associated with the wounded into their budget. How effin lame is that. To go into a battle and figure nobody will get hurt? They were looking into the Gulf War 1, when it was a cake walk compared to this. They neede to go back to the 60's to find out what was going to happen to them in the long run

much later or are so subtle brain damage is hard to detect.

That seems a bit off. I definitely believe the overall figure, but I would have expected way more people to have lost parts.