Litigation

See the railroad spike that pierced the brain of Phineas Gage

By Michael Kaplen

Those who know the story of Phineas Gage will appreciate the photo below of Gage holding the famous railroad spike the pieced his brain.  This is a true event that took place in 1848.  Gage was the foreman of a construction crew laying a railroad roadbed.  As he was packing powder and sand into a hole in rock, the powder detonated, sending the 13-pound tamper into his cheek and out of the top of his head. It landed 25 to 30 yards behind him.

Surprisingly, Gage never lost consciousness even  though most of the front of the left side of his brain was destroyed. He made a full physical recovery over the following 10 weeks, but his personality was irreversibly altered. Whereas he had once been an intelligent and even-tempered worker, he had overnight become irreverent, grossly profane, obstinate, capricious and ill-tempered. His friends said he was "no longer Gage."

The story is taught in medical schools to emphasize that you do not need to lose consciousness to suffer a severe brain injury and that a brain injury can cause profound behavior changes in the individual.

The photo and story of how it was discoverd can be found in a recent article that appeared in the LA Times, What happened next for famous brain injury patient.

Full post as published by Brain Injury News and Information on July 18, 2009 (boomark / email).