Death of Natasha Richardson spotlights veterans' traumatic brain injuries

Death of Natasha Richardson spotlights veterans' traumatic brain injuries
Darryl E. Owens COMMENTARY
March 21, 2009

Movie buffs were stunned by the sudden and tragic death of Natasha Richardson.

One moment the 45-year-old actress is dusting off powder and joking after falling on a beginner's trail during a ski lesson at a Quebec ski resort; the next she's on life support in a New York hospital with a traumatic brain injury.

Richardson died Wednesday. Her untimely passing, as often is the case, shines a celebrity spotlight on an issue rarely given center stage: the devastating nature of closed-head trauma.

Tragic as her death was, it's a sad testament that Richardson's story already may have generated more buzz about traumatic brain injury, or TBI, than the abundant reports of brain-injured U.S. troops.

If a tumble on the bunny slopes can turn deadly, what of service members in Iraq and Afghanistan whose brains regularly are rattled by the rumble of mortars and makeshift bombs?

In concert with March's designation as Brain Injury Awareness Month, Pentagon officials conceded about 360,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war vets may have suffered brain injuries. And as many as 90,000 of those may be plagued with lingering symptoms that demand specialized care.

A traumatic brain injury, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is a "blow or jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the function of the brain" and alters the way one thinks, speaks, feels and reacts emotionally.

Blasts are the primary culprit for brain injury among troops in war zones. The U.S. military estimates that about 600 roadside bombs explode in Iraq each month.
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Death of Natasha Richardson spotlights veterans' traumatic brain injuries