Tuesday, May 13, 2014

The Amusement Never Stops



Karl Rove has said something that has lit up the news cycle. He either did or did not say that Hillary Clinton has brain damage as a result of her fall that caused a TBI, i.e. a blood clot that had to be treated and then she had to wear special prism glasses, which is what you wear when you have vision problems after a TBI.

Almost writes itself, doesn’t it? Here’s the part I’m amused by. (Just the one?) If you just repeated what her staffers have said about her injury and treatment, then you add a few percentage points because it’s their job to make it sound as mild as possible, you come up with the absolute fact that she had a TBI.

Thousands of people do – every walk of life. Veterans, old farts, mommies…there are car accidents and tumors and industrial accidents and bombs…a Black Museum of ways to do it. I am very sorry it happened to her, but I am very annoyed with the way everyone is carrying on about this.

The snarky implication is that she has brain damage. (Insert your comment here. I won’t. I’ll wait for you…3…2…1) It is possible, but not inevitable. Her recovery may have been utterly complete with no residual symptoms at all.

The insult here, to her and to everyone else who has ever needed treatment for a brain injury is that the people who are representing her believes that NO ONE can be trusted to understand what has happened.

So, in lieu of good information that drives out bad, we will have another “issue” that cannot be discussed with science and facts.

Arrgh.


BTW…from the CDC…
A TBI is caused by a bump, blow or jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the normal function of the brain. Not all blows or jolts to the head result in a TBI. The severity of a TBI may range from “mild,” i.e., a brief change in mental status or consciousness to “severe,” i.e., an extended period of unconsciousness or amnesia after the injury.




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