A Different Brain
Did you see that programme
the other night?”- It is a
phrase often heard in most
workplaces at least once a
week, but it is perhaps less
common to send an email to
your colleagues in advance
of a programme because
it may be of interest to you
all professionally. That is
though exactly what occurred
in the Medical Negligence
and Personal Injury team of
Mayo Wynne Baxter when
we caught the advertising
of the latest Louis Theroux
documentary.
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A Different Brain (which aired on
BBC 2 on Sunday 15 May and is still
available on the BBC iplayer) focused
on four people who had suffered brain
injuries and were at different stages of
rehabilitation. Louis visited two centres
run by the Brain Injury Rehabilitation
Trust as well as the home of one of the
people living with a brain injury and,
throughout the documentary, he was
his usual sensitive, charming and if not
a little awkward self that people have
come to love. It was this style, coupled
with the subject matter, that made the
programme thought-provoking and, at
times, heart breaking.
A brain injury is often considered a
‘hidden injury’ as some people may show
few physical signs of change, but their
cognitive, behavioural and personality
changes can be vast and extremely
challenging for them and as well as their
friends and family. The documentary
demonstrated such changes well: from
Earl, who now only wanted expensive
and branded clothing when he hadn’t
been concerned about such things
before his accident, to Amanda who
returned to her marriage and the family
home on the pre-requisite that she would
have her own annexe which could be
locked.
Such changes may seem trivial when
compared to the fact that the person
has had to relearn how to walk, talk, eat
and basically live again, but when they
are returned to their families a changed
individual for the rest of their lives the
impact can be huge. Earl’s mother,
Patricia, seemed to sum it up quite
well. She said Earl had come back “a
completely different person… I have a
different son. He looks like my son, but
he’s got a different soul inside him.” The
Disabilities Trust have said that this is
not an unusual feeling for a person when