Doctors: Scott Olsen suffered brain damage and is unable to speak

[babsbunny]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/10/28/doctors-scott-olsen-suffered-brain-damage-and-is-unable-to-speak/

By Stephen C. Webster
Friday, October 28, 2011

The Iraq veteran seriously wounded Tuesday night at “Occupy Oakland” sustained minor brain damage and has been rendered unable to speak, doctors said Friday, adding that he will likely be able to make a full recovery in time.

Scott Olsen, 24, was said to be otherwise lucid and able to communicate with his family by writing notes, but his ability to spell is also damaged, according to sources who spoke with The Guardian. He is, however, able to understand what’s being communicated to him.

Keith Shannon, Olsen’s roommate who served with him in Iraq, explained that “He cannot talk right now, and that is because the fracture is right on the speech center of his brain,” the paper added. “However, they are expecting he will get that back.”

[justiceischeap]

1. That's gonna make his IT career hard for him, I'd suspect. nt

[CTyankee]

8. well, i suspect "lost wages" will be part of his lawsuit against the city of oakland.

he might get a pretty big settlement...let's hope...

[Fire Walk With Me]

11. "..his lawsuit against the city of oakland." Say it again, I like the sound of that.

[Fire Walk With Me]

20. I'll say it again:

Can you say "multi-million dollar lawsuit against the city of Oakland"? Say it, it's so nice, it just rolls off the tongue. It's like the bubbles in Champagne.

[metalbot]

24. It's more accurate to say multi million dollar lawsuit against the people of Oakland

I'm not suggesting that he shouldn't sue, or that he shouldn't get a settlement. However, when you sue "the government", you are basically suing your neighbors, since they are the ones who actually have to pay for the government's misdeeds.

[CTyankee]

25. tell me about it. I live in New Haven, CT and guess who is paying

Frank Ricci. You remember Ricci. He's the white firefighter in the now infamous Supreme Court case, Ricci v. DeStefano.

Mayor DeStefano had the chance to design a test that would be less racially biased but he didn't do it. He is incompetent and corrupt. That was what got us into trouble.

Well, now the people of Oakland will pay for the sins of the Oakland P.D. Of course, it's not fair. But what we need to do is get the incompetent and corrupt officials voted out of office!

[Fire Walk With Me]

27. Then perhaps it should force new laws disarming the police, and forcing out the mayor and her

cohorts.

[lunatica]

29. No. Suing the city will make it a safer place for your neighbors

I live in Oakland and I prefer my taxes go to Scott Olsen because I sure as hell don't want to pay the police to shoot innocent people in the face for exercising their Constitutional rights.

See, as a taxpayer I think I should have a say in how my taxes are spent. And I know who I will vote against come election time.

[TBF]

30. Then maybe you should be thinking about what YOU are allowing your city to do.

Don't support this thuggery from the Mayor and her police force.

[Warren DeMontague]

31. then they should take the money from the billions they spend in CA

throwing cancer grannies in prison for smoking pot.

[redqueen]

10. Many patients with injuries of this type can make a full recovery in time...

I hope that's the case with Scott.

[thecrow]

22. It's because of brain swelling..

I had it after a brain injury. When the swelling goes down, (about six weeks, in my case) the ability to speak comes back.
I also had trouble with spelling. Most of that came back, but not all.

I hope that Scott recovers well and wholly.

[cilla4progress]

45. I'd say your spelling facility recovered completely!

(I'm a spelling nerd...don't think most folks know how to spell "wholly" -- this usage.)

:toast:

[thecrow]

47. Thanks but you didn't watch me type this!! hehe

My spelling can be totally dyslexic, and my handwriting can be a mess.

Yeah, I'm a spelling and grammar nerd too. I get VERY upset by people who use it's and its wrongly, and spell
"loose" instead of the proper "lose" and don't even get me started on the theres, theirs and there's. There is much more, but I realize everybody doesn't have the same education, or particular nerdiness that I do.
I forgive most of it, but when it's in a news story supposedly by a "journalist" my head explodes.

[Warpy]

33. He woke up quickly enough that it's likely the case

if he gets full rehab, preferably at a local VA hospital, which will likely be the case. It's one of the things the VA system is spectacularly good at, post TBI rehab.

He will likely recover much of his speech as the swelling abates, it looked more like a left frontal injury than a left parietal injury, though it was really hard to tell from those photos.

Neurology is where you see the real medical miracles. I just hope one is coming his way.

[redqueen]

34. Well Broca's area is closer to the temporal lobe, right?

So something must be going wrong there... you never know with injuries there... some people never recover and others recover completely.

[Warpy]

35. Swelling in the left frontal area can indeed press on the left temporal area

which is where Broca's area lives. If I'm right about the site of impact, he'll make a full recovery of his speech with minimal rehab.

I'm extremely optimistic about his overall chances having spent many years in that area.

Short term memory problems will likely be the most long lasting and maddening thing about his injury, although he will likely have some visual disturbances, too.

[redqueen]

37. The poor kid.

I know he's not a child, but he just looks so young. :(

[BOG PERSON]

2. eff all police everywhere

[atreides1]

3. To be fair

Not all police are bad...neither are they all good!

[villager]

4. Not all... just, most

n/t

[Nye Bevan]

23. "Most"? So more than 50% of the cops there seriously injured someone?

I guess there are a lot more Scott Olsens that we have not yet been told about.

[Fumesucker]

9. I'm not holding my breath waiting for any of the good ones to point out the culprit..

It happens so rarely as to be remarkable when it does.

[redqueen]

12. The good ones need to stop assisting with the covering up for the bad ones. (nt)

[louslobbs]

14. Then eff all the police everywhere who commit crimes and violence under color of authority. n/t

Lou

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. tragic

[krispos42]

6. Shit.

That's horrible.

[gkhouston]

7. Wow, that's some "beanbag".

:sarcasm:

[justiceischeap]

13. I've pointed out several times that we don't know how much

damage the second "police projectile" did to him. He was obviously injured when they threw their "projectile" onto the ground right next to him, who knows what kind of concussive damage that could have done.

[hamsterjill]

15. I wish him well.

I wish him a full and speedy recovery.

[Zoeisright]

16. Lawsuits. Lots of them. Immediately.

Against the Oakland PD, the Mayor, the individual cops, Wall street.

That's all those pigs understand.

[in_cog_ni_to]

17. That poor guy.

Those fucking cops. :grr:

[quinnox]

18. These Oakland police should be ashamed

of themselves. THey severely hurt an American hero who was able to survive tours of Iraq fighting for our country, unbelieveable.

I can imagine them giving each other high fives and laughing about busting the protesters up back at the station, which makes the picture even more nauseating.

[City Lights]

19. Wow. This makes me so sad.

And so very angry.

Get well soon, Scott. :hug:

[me b zola]

21. Hang in there Scott

:hug:

[SoCalDem]

26. What he won't "get back"

He's a very young man, and for the rest of his life, he will be "rated" by any insurance company he applies to for coverage, due to this unnecessary injury to him.

This happened to our son when he suffered a "football injury" at 17..once that was documented, he was doomed to always paying higher premiums of being denied outright.

Years later when he was in a serious car accident (t-boned by a drunk guy driving a senior citizen bus) his eventual settlement was low-balled because there was that "previous injury" that loomed as a "possible" contributing factor to his car accident injury which necessitated a major back operation.

[Aerows]

44. That's horrible

It's true though.

What a horrible country we live in that we allow such things to go on, for your son, and for Scott Olsen's future.

It literally makes me ill.

[yoyossarian]

28. Oakland city cops are EVIL.

Vile. Disgusting. Perverted. Ugly. Freaks. Monsters. Cannibals.

HUMAN SCUM. SHIT LIZARDS. CRETINS. MUTANTS.

Not all, but apparently quite a few.

All my best to Scott Olsen. He looked like such a cool dude, standing there right in front of that line of CREATURES.

A good kid. I hope his recovery is complete. I hope he lives to SUE the Oakland PD into OBLIVION.

[FiveGoodMen]

32. I like the way you think! (and express yourself)

[yoyossarian]

46. Just callin' it as I see it...

...and I've had a bellyful for the last 30 years or so.
Enough BULLSHIT!

:hi:

:toast:

[Zyzfyx]

36. The wingnuts are brain-damaged, and as a result, WE are unable to speak!

Sickening symmetry, that. :argh::grr::puke:

[Rex]

38. Went through HELL in a warzone...gets back to the Land Of Milk and Honey

and gets shot in the head! WTF! I wonder how the Marine Corp feels about their brother getting muted by a bullet from a paymasters lackey?

[RainDog]

39. k&r n/t

[Downwinder]

40. City of Oakland footing the bill?

Must be up around $100,000.00 by now.

[Bozita]

41. Those cops belong in the same fucking prisons as other violent felons.

Like GWB said, "They hate us for our freedoms."

[Aerows]

42. Horrible :(

I hope he recovers.

He's a vibrant young man, and his future shouldn't be cut short.

[Odin2005]

43. K&R