The Law Offices of Chaikin and Sherman, P.C.
Toll Free - 
Phone - 202.659.8600
Fax - 202.659.8680
Traumatic Brain Injury and the War in Afghanistan
Maryland, Washington, D.C. & Virginia
US soldiers have now been fighting in Afghanistan for nearly a decade, and 90,000 are still there. Our troops are regularly patrolling some of the most dangerous areas of Afghanistan, including the extremely unstable provinces of Kandahar and Helmand. Taliban attacks, roadside IEDs (improvised explosive devices), and other threats to our soldiers weigh heavily on the minds of countless families whose loved ones are in the field, many for a second or third deployment.
Sadly, we have lost more than two thousand soldiers in Afghanistan and more than seven thousand have been wounded. Many of our wounded heroes have suffered traumatic brain injuries (TBI) after surviving IED blasts and other explosions. In previous conflicts like the wars in Vietnam and Korea, few soldiers would have survived serious head injuries, but today’s soldiers are better protected with high-tech helmets and safer vehicles. While this protection undoubtedly saves lives, the men and women it saves often come home with a serious injury, such as TBI, which has become the signature injury of the war in Afghanistan.
Signs of Traumatic Brain Injury
Traumatic brain injury can be difficult to diagnose because the severity and symptoms of TBI vary widely and may not emerge for months or years. Afghanistan veterans with traumatic brain injury may also suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can cause some of the same symptoms, such as memory lapses, behavioral changes, and depression.
Another common symptom that soldiers with TBI experience is epilepsy, which is rare in the general population. Epilepsy causes seizures, disruptions of the brain’s normal electrical activity, which may go unnoticed by soldiers with TBI. Usually, people with epilepsy do not remember having a seizure, and veterans may mistakenly attribute periodic blackouts to PTSD or other mental health problems.
Invisible Wounds – Soldiers with TBI Often Undiagnosed
An ongoing joint investigation by NPR and ProPublica that began in June 2010 has found that the military’s medical system is routinely failing to properly diagnose and treat brain injuries in veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. While the military’s official number of Iraq and Afghanistan vets with TBI is 115,000, the investigators cited unpublished research by the military that shows that tens of thousands of soldiers with TBI were missed.
The investigators found that one key reason soldiers with TBI are falling through the cracks is that the military’s screening tests for brain injuries are inadequate. Soldiers cheated on the Military Acute Concussion Evaluation (MACE) to get back in the field, and the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics failed to diagnose almost half the soldiers who had sustained a concussion.
As awareness grows about Afghanistan veterans with traumatic brain injuries, Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata & Siegel, P.C. stands ready to protect defend the rights of veterans and other traumatic brain injury victims. We worry about our returning heroes and will seek to help soldiers with TBI to receive the proper treatment for their invisible battle wounds.
If you or a loved one has sustained a traumatic brain injury, please contact the TBI lawyers of Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata & Siegel, P.C. in Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia for an evaluation of your claim.
