Message 70/96
Date: 20-Nov-04 @ 04:38 PM -
RE: So, where's the crispy children...
US soldiers in Iraq suffer horrific brain and mental injuriesTraumatic Brian InjuryThe increase in brain injury cases is largely due to the advanced body armor and helmets now used by US forces. As the death rate of wounded troops has declined compared to previous conflicts, the rate of TBI has shot up. The nature of the Iraq war has also increased the number of brain injuries. Rocket propelled grenades, mortars, and other explosive devices cause concussive shock blasts damaging to the brain.
ABC News reported last month on the situation in one Veterans Affairs hospital in Palo Alto, California. “The majority of [TBI patients], they’re incontinent, both bowel and bladder, so we have to retrain them when to use the toilet, how to use the toilet,” nurse manager Stephanie Alvarez said.
Each patient at the facility is given a “memory book,” which describes that day’s schedule, and other important information. For many wounded soldiers this includes a reminder of why they are in hospital. “I had a head injury from an explosion in Iraq on June 14, 2004,” one soldier’s book read.
Last month Associated Press reported the case of Jeffrey Lucey, a 23-year-old Marine who suffered from serious depression and became dependent on alcohol after returning from Iraq in July 2003. On Christmas Eve he told his sister how he had been ordered to shoot two unarmed Iraqi soldiers. “He took off two dog tags around his neck, then threw them at me and said, ‘Don’t you understand? Your brother is a murderer,’” she recalled. Lucey killed himself in June.