529
A Navy SEAL was convinced exposure to blasts damaged his brain, so he donated it to science to prove it (www.nbcnews.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/health@lemmy.world
101 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

“We’re really at an infant stage in terms of our clinical ability to assess traumatic brain injury,” a medical expert said.

Before he ended his life, Ryan Larkin made his family promise to donate his brain to science.

The 29-year-old Navy SEAL was convinced years of exposure to blasts had badly damaged his brain, despite doctors telling him otherwise. He had downloaded dozens of research papers on traumatic brain injury out of frustration that no one was taking him seriously, his father said.

“He knew,” Frank Larkin said. “I’ve grown to understand that he was out to prove that he was hurt, and he wasn’t crazy.”

In 2017, a postmortem study found that Ryan Larkin, a combat medic and instructor who taught SEALs how to breach buildings with explosives, had a pattern of brain scarring unique to service members who’ve endured repeated explosions.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 2 points 2 years ago*

Most medical doctors are just mechanics that specialize in troubleshooting one particularly poorly designed device,

I see a similarity to lawyers here.

TBF, yes, but doctors who also study engineering disciplines are a bit better.

Still, I've met a few very arrogant over, say, things I do for years vs them having had a few seminars, but I think this concerns people who study well in general. They can't psychologically accept that a person with ADHD who just won't have the patience for their studies can know some narrow subject much better due to hobbies and simply job experience.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent