Tannishblog

Here’s a taste of the State of the Union Mr. Bush will not mention tonight. Welcome to the Age of Polytrauma and the Year of Lost Hopes for more than 16,000 US troops.

Via NY Times:

To describe the maimed survivors of this ugly new war, a graceless new word, polytrauma, has entered the medical lexicon. Each soldier arriving at Tampa’s Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center, inside the giant veterans hospital, brings a whole world of injury. The typical patient, Dr. Scott said, has head injuries, vision and hearing loss, nerve damage, multiple bone fractures, unhealed body wounds, infections and emotional or behavioral problems. Some have severed limbs or spinal cords.

[…]

The surge in complex casualties, doctors found, required major reorganizing, enabling them to focus extraordinary medical and therapeutic expertise on each patient and to offer counseling, housing and other aid to their often shellshocked wives, children and parents.

This is the true cost of “Spreading Democracy.” Is it worth it?