OLYMPIA, WA — As the tepid economy puts a vise on spending nationwide, state governments are searching for ways to take the pressure off their treasuries.

WASHINGTON — Military veterans injured between 2001 and 2005 are now retroactively eligible for traumatic injury benefits, even if they never deployed overseas to battle zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON — Diet impacts far more than waistlines and the risk of obesity. In fact, the military has been paying close attention to not only the role of nutrition in maintaining physical health, but also how it relates to psychological health issues such as suicide and even TBI.

I had the misfortune recently of stumbling across a movie documentary, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” narrated by Ben Stein, as I was channel-surfing with my eldest daughter following the evening news.

WASHINGTON — When servicemembers commit suicide, a common misperception is that the extreme act is a response to traumatic battlefield experiences.

WASHINGTON — Mass-casualty management planning that occurred at the Pentagon in the months and days before 9/11 helped medical personnel respond appropriately and saved American lives, according to  retired Lt. Gen. Paul K. Carlton Jr., MD, who was involved in that planning as the Air Force surgeon general.

BETHESDA, MD — Recent projects being overseen or funded at NIH hope to shed light on the biology of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and give physicians and future researchers better tools to understand, diagnose and treat the condition. 

WASHINGTON — The United States should have a system in place to compensate medical research subjects for injuries incurred during the trials they were a part of, according to a federal report. Currently, the U.S. requires subjects to seek compensation through the federal court system.

WASHINGTON — Approximately 86% of all battlefield deaths occur within the first 30 minutes after wounding. That is one reason why care administered even before wounded troops make it to a combat-casualty care hospital is so critical.

WASHINGTON — Many young people of enlistment age have tattoos, and some percentage are required to remove body art that the military services deem inappropriate.