Polytraumatic Injury and the Family

•Please choose one from the link below for this assignment and attached is an example. Review the following videos for a general overview of the effects of blast related injury on both patient and family. There are five personal journeys from the patient’s point of view and five journeys from the caregiver’s point of view. You do not need to view them all, but they give a flavor to what service members and their families have to cope with after a traumatic injury. Pick one veteran or family journey that impacted you to use in the discussion board assignment. •http://www(dot)traumaticbraininjuryatoz(dot)org/Personal-Journeys.aspx •In an initial discussion board posting, discuss the responses to the following prompts using the veteran or family member’s personal journey you chose. There are no right or wrong answers; in fact there should be many different perceptions of what is “right.” ◦Choose one of the family members or veteran in the personal journeys or the case study that impacts you. Based on the individual you have chosen: ◾Put yourself in their situation and discuss how you would feel if this situation happened to you. ◾Identify and explain the major ethical dilemma you are experiencing from “your” point of view. ◾Describe the rights and responsibilities that society owes to you. ◾What responsibilities do you have in this situation?

Polytrauma injury and the family

For this assignment, the personal story picked is that of Air Force Sgt Scott Lilley. Sgt Scott got injured when an EFP blew off and a piece of sharp metal hit him on the left side of the head causing him to have a traumatic brain injury. The injury was severe to the point that his doctor did not expect him to live and contacted his parents to take him off life support. The support of his parents and their faith in God kept him and allowed him to have a successful recovery.

If placed in this situation, I would feel not only helpless, but hopeless as well. Imagine a young man with a bright future ahead of him now lying in a hospital bed fighting for his life. I’m scared to say that if were put in his situation I would perhaps have suicidal thoughts fearing how the rest of my life would be from now on.

As far as I’m concerned, the major ethical dilemma would have been would have been taking Sgt Scott off of life support. If I was one of his parents, watching my son suffer and not knowing the outcome would be challenging for me to witness and I would want to take him off his misery; however my strong faith would have kept me fighting and hoping that in the end he would be okay. With the recovery having taken several months, I would worry about his income, if I would have to be providing and caring for him for the rest of my life.

As a soldier, I would expect to be respected as more than just a regular member of the community. Since some of us men and women sacrifice our lives and freedom to protect those of our countrymen, I strongly believe that we deserve at least the best care in order to reintegrate ourselves in the community.

My responsibility as a nurse is to ensure that veterans are given the best care and help them with their reintegration process. I would ensure that through my care I help them live their new life to the fullest. I would not only focus on their physical needs, I would lend an ear and reassure my patients that their disabilities do not hinder them from being productive members of society.