Customer Reviews

Confronting Traumatic Brain Injury : Devastation, Hope, and Healing

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This book addresses the topic of traumatic brain injury from several viewpoints: the personal experience of the author, case histories of others and their immediate and long term treatment. The legal, moral, ethical and medical aspects of these cases are discussed and the progress made in the 1990s in knowledge, treatment and dissemination of information to the professional community.

Straightforward and readable, it recognizes the needs and considerations of the survivor and the family. The political forces influencing the issue and recognition of traumatic brain injury are considered as well as the financial bearing on rehabilitation and social responsibility. The ethics of quality of life and death is examined and presented to the reader.

The book is altogether thought provoking to anyone interested in the field of traumatic brain injury and propects for recovery.

While obvious that there was never an intent or attempt to delve into the technical details of treating TBIs, this book is amazingly well written so that it achieves precisely what was inteded: a readable and relatable journey through the recovery process. The use of both an intimate and widely known examples for the reader to relate to the topic is just one of the many attributes that makes this book an excelent resource for a broad audience

After caregiving my spouse well into the 7th year, I found this highly informative book, which treats of Traumatic Brain Injury from several angles including public medicine. It was such smooth reading, I didn't want to put it down, and wrote down several page numbers to read again (which I did). I'm getting a copy for my grown children to read and understand their father's situation better. Winslade's book makes me want to get organized and speak to youth, PTAs,--everyone about preventing TBI which kills so many in the US and destroys so many more. With more effort, like we did in the cigarette wars, perhaps we'd no longer have a 1-every-15 seconds Traumatic Brain Injury rate in the U.S.

As we grapple with ways to reduce the national deficit numerous government programs are soon to be bled dry without a proper analysis of their costs versus benefits. The rehabilitation of people who have survived a brain injury is one area that deserves to receive more money in these presumed lean times. The value of rehab following a brain injury cannot be overstated. Maddeningly, nearly all survivors fail to receive the rehab they need to reach their maximum recovery potential. Because of this short-sighted stinginess, all of society pays in two ways: (1) the high cost of caring for a survivor who would be more independent if a few more dollars were spent on her rehab, and (2) the loss of the potential productivity of a fully rehabilitated brain injury survivor.

William J. Winslade is a professor of philosophy and medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. For Winslade, brain injury rehabilitation is a personal, as well as a medical issue. At the age of two, he fell from a second-story porch and landed headfirst on the concrete paving below.

In Confronting Traumatic Brain Injury, Winslade makes a convincing argument for significantly increasing the amount of rehab allowed for brain injury survivors. First, he describes the different ways the brain can be injured. Next, he addresses the Golden Hour, those critical sixty minutes following a major injury in which the availability of expert medical treatment can mean the difference between life and death. Winslade then explains how advances in medicine and trauma care have resulted in far greater numbers of people surviving brain injuries.

But then the healthcare system fails. Winslade describes how most brain injury survivors receive inadequate treatment for their cognitive and emotional impairments. The burden of care and further rehabilitation falls on the family. The burden of financially supporting the disabled survivor ultimately falls on society.

As an economically-more-efficient alternative, Winslade suggests that the best way to generate the income needed to pay for the care brain injury survivors morally deserve is "to tax those activities that are the biggest contributors to brain trauma." He includes in these activities: driving, especially for those under the age of twenty-five; drinking alcoholic beverages; shooting guns; and attending boxing matches.

Published in 1998, Confronting Traumatic Brain Injury is somewhat out-dated. But, brain injury survivors are still underserved by the medical community, and this book, unfortunately, is still relevant.

THis book is great because it is a quick read with interesting information and case studies in language anyone can understand.
On a side note, the author is one of my professors, and he knows a lot about this topic.

A well written and informative book on brain injury. Many personal examples are provided which helped me understand the phases of recovery and difficulties along the way. Note that the material is dealt with in a realistic fashion, which does not always translate into a positive or uplifting description of the variable recovery outcomes.

My sister was severly injured an an auto accident. I appreciated the realistic examples provided, as opposed to other treatments of the subject with poetry and quaint hopeful phrases. My sister may never be the same, but I am optimistic that the information will help me to understand her recovery process.