Congress, Mandate Brain Injury Screening by the VA and all State Health Agencies
- by: Susan V
- recipient: US Congress and President Obama
A new study shows that over half of young NY City prison inmates had a brain injury before being incarcerated, and another study revealed 50% of substance abusers had suffered some type of traumatic brain injury. Mt Sinai’s Dr. Wayne Gordon emphasized in a 2008 US Department of Health webcast on HRSA that many long-term costs to individuals and society could be alleviated by identifying and properly treating TBI.
So why aren’t all state agencies REQUIRED to do a simple screening test after accidents that could cause TBI?
One likely explanation is that the overwhelming numbers of TBI survivors returning from war zones is not something the US has prepared itself to deal with. In fact some states haven’t taken care of, or even acknowledged, many TBI survivors injured at home.
Even though most of the info on TBI coming down from the federal agencies and leading researchers is top notch - it’s somehow falling to the bottom of to-do lists at the state level. One exception is the attention paid to children playing sports, now that there are new laws like Gfeller-Waller in NC, mandating screening and follow-up for this group (though parents may have to push to get the follow up).
But the top-down word from the military to veterans who suffer Mild TBI from blasts has been, basically, “suck it up" - an attitude that seems to have crossed over to civilians also suffering complex and long-term effects of concussions or mild TBI.
This attitude is of course beyond unacceptable. The effects of undiagnosed and poorly or wrongly treated TBI are just too serious to ignore. It’s time for Congress to mandate that all health and social service agencies, especially the VA, screen for TBI.
https://tbitac.hrsa.gov/download/ScreeningInstruments508.pdf
http://www.bianc.net/docs/BIANCPublications/Advisory_Council_report_for_2009%20-%202010%20%281%29.pdf
http://webcast.hrsa.gov/archives/mchb/tbi/may2008/tbimay2008transcript.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/concussion/pdf/Facts_about_Concussion_TBI-a.pdf
We, the undersigned, say traumatic brain injury is too important to the overall health of society to ignore, misdiagnose or fail to properly treat.
US DHHS/HRSA’s 2006 recommendation that all state health and social service agencies should be screening anyone who suffers a fall - or any situation that could jolt the brain or cause a blow to the head -should have been in effect in all states shortly afterward.
Instead, in NC for example, after getting years of funding from HRSA, the State’s TBI Council report notes how far behind NC is lagging in support for TBI survivors and their families. It notes that those trained as brain injury specialists in the state are scattered and few, and that there’s no organized infrastructure providing consistent support. NC is not the only state lagging behind.
Veterans suffering brain injuries from blasts are among the many needing proper evaluation and treatment, but as recent reports reveal, the majority haven't gotten it.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13854040903153902#preview
A recent study on vets that were screened for TBI post deployment found, before screening was discontinued, that "About 320,000 American troops have sustained traumatic brain injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan, most of them mild.... The injuries are poorly understood, and sometimes produce lasting mental, physical and emotional problems."
The petition’s author found this documented lack of support to be devastating to her family when a loved one suffered a fall that resulted in four skull fractures. During and after the injury, even while she was in the hospital, no one provided any information about TBI or offered any support once the surgery was completed.
Therefore petitioner is providing local agencies with informational brochures on TBI and insisting that they and all state agencies start screening - and stop denying brain injury survivors and their families the support they need and deserve.
This is not just important to petitioner’s family, to war veterans, to young men and women being incarcerated, those misdiagnosed and forced into psyche wards, or to children involved in school sports - it is crucial to the overall health of our society and in cutting future costs as well.
We ask Congress to intervene and make Traumatic Brain Injury Screening mandatory by all state and federal health agencies and healthcare providers - as well as schools.
Thanks for you time.
http://gawker.com/i-am-sorry-that-it-has-come-to-this-a-soldiers-last-534538357
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