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Transplants Being Planned to Heal Troops' Hidden Wounds

• danso 11y ago
  > Doctors who treat young men wounded in combat say that no matter how bad their other injuries are, the first thing the men ask about when they wake up from surgery is whether their genitals are intact. > “Our young male patients would rather lose both legs and an arm than have a urogenital injury,” said Scott E. Skiles, the polytrauma social work supervisor at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System. This is something I frequently wonder about when reading stories of those maimed in combat, in a way that would almost seemingly affect their pelvic area (IED that destroys a leg, for example). I wonder if during the interview with the reporter, who is the side that chooses to omit such a prominent, if stigmatized detail that might profoundly impact the survivor's day-to-day life even more than the visible injuries?