Wounds of war bring home new ways of healing

Wounds of war bring home new ways of healing

Iraq War’s medical challenges spawn solutions for civilians

Eric Gay / AP file
Sgt. Tawan Williamson undewent rehabilitation therapy at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio last year. Williamson's left leg was shredded in Iraq when a bomb blew up under his Humvee in June 2006. A high-tech prosthetic leg allows him to run again.
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Day by day, images of a 4-week invasionFrom the first blasts that rocked Baghdad to the U.S. military's declaration that major combat was over, see images from every day of the conflict.

Commentary
By Dr. Edward V. Craig
Special to msnbc.com
updated 8:28 a.m. ET, Tues., March. 18, 2008

Dr. Edward V. Craig
Throughout history, the experiences of doctors in wartime have led to dramatic advances in civilian medical care.
Hippocrates, best known for the oath every graduating medical student takes, recognized this in 400 B.C. when he wrote that war was a surgeon’s best training ground. Each war has exposed physicians to injuries not seen previously, and the Iraq War — with its signature roadside bombs (in this war’s lingo “improvised explosive devices”) — is no exception.