AUGUSTA, Maine - Traumatic brain injuries are common among wounded soldiers returning from Iraq, but they’re also commonly misdiagnosed or undetected, according veterans’ activists and Maine’s congressional delegation.

For some soldiers, the injury is graphically obvious.

”They’re the ones with part of their skull missing,” Ron Brodeur, state inspector for the Maine Department of Disabled American Veterans, said during a forum Wednesday on soldiers’ health care.

For others, the traumatic brain injury, or TBI in military parlance, presents itself in subtle ways, said Jack Sims, director of the Togus Veterans Administration Medical Center.

”Our providers are now aware of TBI and are on the lookout for it. We’re trying to be much more proactive in recognizing these things than we were in past conflicts,” he said.

WASHINGTON -- Sens. Evan Bayh and Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday that soldiers with traumatic brain injuries should get extended treatment through the Defense Department instead of the Veterans Affairs Department, which they argued is less capable of handling such injuries.

The Democrats, who serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said they would pursue legislation to make that change.
"The VA does a great job," Bayh said. "But they've simply been overwhelmed by the number of these types of injuries and are still in transition in terms of how best to treat them.

Labels: Iraq veterans, Iraq War, TBI, traumatic brain injury, Veterans Administration

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