Confronting Traumatic Brain Injury : Devastation, Hope, and Healing
by William J. Winslade,

Author William J. Winslade suffered from a traumatic brain injury (TBI) as a 2-year-old, when he fell from his second-story porch and landed straight on his head. He's one of the lucky ones who's recovered fully, both physically and emotionally; his only souvenirs of the fall are a three-inch scar and a dent in his skull. He warns that of the 2 million Americans who suffer from TBI each year (most of them from car and motorcycle accidents), up to 100,000 of them will die prematurely. More than 90,000 of them will face up to a decade of extensive rehabilitation, at a cost of up to $4 million each. Even a TBI as seemingly minor as a concussion can have devastating long-term physical consequences, causing seizures, memory loss, learning disabilities, and more. However sorry these problems may be, he writes, "the truly debilitating deficits" are the less-obvious emotional effects, "such as social isolation, [which] take their own insidious toll."

Winslade is on mission to spur massive attention to TBI, both from the public and the government, to increase awareness to prevent these injuries, and to improve resources for when injuries do occur. And the profiles of TBI victims in this sobering book should move anyone with a soul to action. Without slipping into melodrama, he presents harrowing tales of the dramatic personality changes that can result from TBI. Winslade ends on a practical, moving note, advocating several ways that TBI can be prevented from raising the driving age to banning pro boxing. "Consider the misery and money that we would save by cutting in half the number of Americans killed or severely disabled by brain trauma every year," he writes. Until simple preventive measures are taken and until the "long national slumber" of ignorance ends, he warns, TBI will continue to be the leading cause of disability and death in children and young adults. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal
Medical philosopher Winslade has written a readable and broad overview of head injury: causes, treatment, rehabilitation, and health and public policy implications. The medicine and science of brain injury, however, are secondary in this book to discussions of rehabilitation and policy issues. The author survived a brain injury as a child, and that story, as well as high-profile cases such as Reagan aide James S. Brady and the Central Park "wilding" victim, inform the book and give it a personal touch. Hard to categorize, finally: this book will certainly be of interest to those who work with victims of head injury and their families; its readability, organization, and practical information make it a reasonable choice for community collections and collections in healthcare and social service settings.?Mark L. Shelton, Univ. of Massachusetts Medical Ctr., Worcester
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

The New York Times Book Review, Robin Marantz Henig
...captures our attention by making it clear that the horror stories he relates can just as easily cleave our own lives...indelibly into before and after. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
"The primary cause of accidents is our fatalistic acceptance of them," says Winslade, who also points out that traumatic brain injury--TBI--kills 60 percent more people than AIDS does and afflicts a group of victims of an even younger average age, for it is a common result of driving accidents that seat belts, air bags, helmets for motorcyclists, and daytime running lights ought to reduce considerably. Hearing of a few striking recoveries from TBI, most people don't realize that the usual TBI rehabilitation program is lengthy and often restores only minimal functioning. Strongly interested in the law, bioethicist Winslade emphasizes that the U.S. TBI death rate ranks badly on the world list, that the U.S. generally doesn't have the necessary transportation ready for TBI emergencies, that there is nothing obliging state and federal legislatures to provide sufficient funds for trauma centers and research, and that the rampant waste, fraud, and abuse in some (especially for-profit) rehabilitation centers are overlooked. A book that may provoke considerable discussion. William Beatty --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Book Description
This book--the first comprehensive, accessible book on traumatic brain injury--explains what it is, how it is caused, and what can be done to treat, cope with, and prevent it. The book includes illuminating case studies, key ethical and legal issues, public policy proposals, and practical steps we can take to protect ourselves from brain trauma.

Synopsis
A discussion of brain injury, describing what it is, how it is caused, and what can be done to treat, cope with, and prevent it. It includes illuminating case studies, key ethical and legal issues, public policy proposals, and practical steps we can take to protect ourselves from brain trauma.

Ingram
Traumatic brain injury is the fourth most common cause of death in the developed world, according to the author, who himself suffered a childhood brain injury. This book explains what it is, how it is caused, and what can be done to treat, cope with, and prevent traumatic brain injury.