Litigation

Department of Defense Inexecusably Delays Brain Injury Screening of Reutrning Troops

By Michael Kaplen

An inexcusable policy of delaying screening of returning troops for mild traumatic brain injury because of fears concerning the number of soldiers who potentially had post concussion symptoms was revealed today in a story in USA Today.  The Pentagon wanted to avoid acknowledgment of the post concussion syndrome and its association with blast injuries.

It's shocking that the stated Pentagon reason for their failure to screen returning service members was an unsubstantiated fear that the returning soldiers would attempt to feign symptoms of brain injury because of articles they may have read in the news media or on the Internet.   However, in a January 2006 report, scientists at the federal Defense and Veteran Brain Injury Center urged that troops be screened for TBI "immediately."

Of course, if you blame the victim, excuse them of making up their symptoms and deny the existence of a casual relationship between head injury and mild traumatic brain injury, you are going to save a lot of money.  Sounds like the mentality of the insurance industry, doesn't it?

Here's how it goes:  The individual never sustained a head injury, if they did, they didn't sustain any brain damage, if they did, it was only temporary, if they still have complaints, they are exaggerating, if they are not exaggerating then then don't have a brain injury, they have post traumatic stress disorder. 

It is a disgusting attempt to deny benefits to those suffering from a traumatic brain injury.

According to the USA Today article, an Army mental health report last month indicated that 11% of 2,195 soldiers surveyed in Iraq and Afghanistan show signs of mild brain injury, but fewer than half were identified and evaluated in the field.

The full article can be obtained by clicking here: DOD Delayed Brain Injury Scans

Full post as published by Brain Injury News and Information on March 18, 2008 (boomark / email).