When will justice come for TBI veterans?

Combat head trauma figures suspect in Iraq, Afghanistan wars, study finds
TribLive News
By Carl Prine
Published: Sunday, May 18, 2014

"military now tests for trauma every GI within a half-football field distance from a detonation."

Up to five times as many active-duty troops endured head trauma during the early stages of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars than was recorded by the Pentagon, according to a study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University.

The widespread lack of documentation of traumatic brain injuries, or TBI, could stymie former military members seeking medical care or disability payments from the Department of Veterans Affairs or the services, the study warns. Published last week in the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, the study authored by Dr. Remington Nevin and researcher Rachel P. Chase estimates that the Department of Defense failed to document an estimated 21,257 to 24,033 cases of battlefield brain injury from early 2003 to late 2006.

“Any policy that rests on a veteran being able to produce documentation of the TBI would therefore be inadequate,” Nevin said.

The authors told the Tribune-Review that their study likely undercounted the number of concussions among troops because it excluded National Guard and reserves who fought overseas.
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