Iraq war brain trauma victims turn to private care

[Barrett808]

Source: Reuters

CHICAGO, April 23 (Reuters) - Sgt. Eric Edmundson arrived at the U.S. Army's Walter Reed hospital in October 2005 with a severe head concussion, a victim of one of the many roadside bombs that are a part of daily life for soldiers in Iraq.

Six months later, after intense physical rehab and an infection that made control of his limbs futile, his morale hit bottom. The Department of Veterans Affairs gave him the choice of a nursing home or returning home from a Richmond, Virginia facility, his family said.

"We felt the VA had a 'wait and see' attitude, and our belief was that time was our enemy," said Eric's father Edward, who left his job at Conagra Foods in North Carolina to be his son's full-time health advocate. "So we took him home."

Unsatisfied with the outcome, Eric and his family eventually found treatment at a private hospital, and began a slow path to recovery. But his story is unusual. Wounded vets are seldom treated at private hospitals, which say they offer expertise for severe brain injuries like Eric's. The VA is resisting using their services, setting up a clash over care for some the war's most seriously wounded veterans.

Of the nearly 24,000 wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, about a third suffer from some degree of traumatic brain injury, or TBI, according to the General Accounting Office.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N02447108.htm

[whistle]

1. Another victory for the conservative agenda, message for our solders is

...don't come home wounded or severally disabled, better to come home in a flag draped box.

[Kelvin Mace]

2. Amazing

how they oppose "privatizing" a government service when it actually HELPS!

[brentspeak]

3. Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't the government spend however much money

it takes to get the very best medical care for any and all wounded troops? This is unbelievable.