WHILE there are few more contentious topics in US politics today than the war in Iraq, on one point everyone should agree: wounded service personnel returning from the conflict deserve the best possible medical care.
Many are amputees, so it is good to know that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) are developing new prosthetics devices (see 鈥淩eaching for the next generation of prosthetic arms鈥�). But welcome as they are, prosthetics may be the easy part. Many of the wounded also have severe brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder. The official term for these injuries is 鈥減olytrauma鈥�, an addition to our lexicon every bit as chilling as the first Gulf War鈥檚 鈥渃ollateral damage鈥�. Working out how best to rehabilitate patients with polytrauma will take advances in surgery, neuroscience, psychological and physical therapy, and technology.
A major research effort is needed, and the VA is rising to the challenge. Yet it is doing so in the face of a financial squeeze. President Bush鈥檚 spending request for 2007 would cut the VA鈥檚 budget for medical research, including prosthetics and polytrauma, from $412 million to $399 million. In previous years, Congress has boosted the VA鈥檚 funding, and it may do so again. But this is not good enough. Bush has trumpeted his spending on healthcare for injured veterans. The commander-in-chief needs to recognise that the prospects of many wounded personnel depend on advances in medical research.
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