July 2004
9
Dependency
and lifelong need for care
should be investigated, as well as
seizure disorder,
conduct disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and related problems like explosive rage. Abusive parents, prenatal exposure and early use
of alcohol and
other drugs have long been blamed for problems of school-aged children
and adolescents. However, note the similarity of ischemic brainstem damage to the
bilateral symmetric
brainstem lesions (Wernicke's encephalopathy) caused by chronic alcohol use.
The evidence seems plentiful
enough and
too tragic to suggest any further studies with human infants on immediate
versus delayed
cord clamping. Animal activists may protest, but further
investigation of monkeys subjected to suffocation and umbilical cord clamping should be
done to determine
the extent and seriousness of handicaps caused by ischemic damage of brainstem nuclei, especially
those within the auditory pathway.
10.
Dependency and lifelong need for care
Developmental disabilities remain
lifelong
handicaps. Retrospective data is plentiful. I work in the Massachusetts state hospital for mentally ill prison
inmates. Special education, seizure
disorder, school dropout, and erratic employment history are documented in the charts for the
majority of these patients. Often
the comment of a mother is included that her son suffered oxygen deprivation at birth. Many of these birth records could be
examined.
Mainstreaming of mentally handicapped people is the goal of
current treatment. At the same time, the numbers of people in prisons is increasing,
and incarceration
is the costliest kind of long-term care.
There is no cure for brain damage.
Every effort must be made to prevent it, and to acknowledge and change current practices that may be
adding to the increasing numbers of handicapped people.