Severe brain injuries - Violence rise a concern

The Irish Examiner reports today how delayed CT scans, journeys in excess of 100km and a weekday-only ambulance service are hampering the treatment of patients with severe brain injury.

Our report goes on to reveal that while a new study into Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in Ireland has recorded a welcome and dramatic drop in TBIs among road users, it has also found a worrying rise in the number of TBIs due to assaults.

The report goes on to suggest that more than 90% of assaulted patients were men younger than the average age of TBI patients and that four in every five assaults involved alcohol. The findings raise a number of important and obvious questions for us a nation.

Firstly, in recessionary times, what priority do we attach to the health and welfare of our citizenry? Secondly, as a society how are we going to deal with the growing trend for alcohol-fuelled and mindless violence in young people? These questions should not be lost amidst talk of global recession and banking crisis.