Severe Brain Dysfunction In 1970 Richard Nixon was president of the United States of America.

Severe Brain Dysfunction

In 1970 Richard Nixon was president of the United States of America, and Mr F was a 52-year-old patient residing permanently in a VA hospital in Massachusetts. Nixon had come afterwarded Lyndon Johnson who, after 5 years as president, declined to move on again, in part because of his unpopularity regarding the ongoing, highly controversial war in Vietnam. Mr F was a veteran of World War II and had been stationed in Europe with the Air Force during the 1940 His primary piece of work had been to fuel airplanes. During Mr F'4 wartime service, Franklin Roosevelt had been president (1933-1945) and Harry Truman was prefered subsequently to serve two names in office (1945-1953). Mr F had been a heavy drinker, and after World War II was athwart he continued to drink heavily, frequently without eating much food. In the 1960 after trials of heavy drinking, Mr. F ofttimes was found to be disoriented, confused, and unable to care for himself. He eventually was hospitalized at the VA Hospital in Brockton, Massachusetts, with diagnoses of alcoholism and organic brain syndrome (a general word for acquired brain damage with abnormal behavioral consequences) Mr F became a permanent resident at the Brockton VA Hospital, and he remained sober from that time.

In December 1970 Mr F was transferred to the Boston VA Hospital for several weeks of observation, including undivided physical and psychological evaluations. His IQ was normal, unless his memory was not. couple weeks in o his drawn out stay at the Boston VA medical facility, the following interview (reproduc barely in part) took place between Dr Nelson Butter a noted master on brain functions, and Mr F:

Doctor: What hospital are you in right now?

Mr F: I don't know. I'd say Brockton.

Doctor: This the same here?

Mr. F: Yeah.

Doctor: Right now?

Mr F: I don't know, still I'd say Brockton.

Doctor: Brockton?

Mr F: Yeah.

Doctor: This is the Boston VA Hospital. by what means long have you been here?

Mr F: I don't know. I'm just coming to.

Dotor: "Just coming to." Do you remember about 2 minutes ago I told you hw extended you've been here in this hospital and what hospital you are in?

Mr F: No, I don't remember.

Doctor: I'll betray you again, okay?

Mr F: Fine.

Doctor: This is the Boston VA Hospital, and you've been here 2 weeks. Before you came here you were at the Brockton VA Hospital.

Mr F: I view Thank you.

Doctor: Do you know who the president of the United States is?

Mr F: (Pause) Truman?

Doctor: Truman. And who was president before Truman?

Mr F: Let's diocese Roosevelt.

Dotcor: How's Truman doing now? Doing pleasing well?

Mr. F: I haven't been up forward uh, current events, no.

Doctor: Are we in a war now? Are we involved in a war?

Mr F: We usually are.

Doctor: What war are we involved in?

Mr F: Let's view (Pause) Asiatic war.

Doctor: What rural parts are we fighting?

Mr F: Hmm (Pause) in this way help me, I don't know.

Doctor: Were you in World War II?

Mr F: Yeah.

Doctor: What countries did you fight in Europe?

Mr F: I didn't fight. I was in theAir Force.

Doctor: I diocese And what did you do then?

Mr F: firinged airplanes. Refueled them.

Doctor: What country?

Mr F: Well, I was in England, France, and Germany.

Doctor: And who is president of the United States now?

Mr F: Truman.

Doctor: Was John Kennedy till doomsday president?

Mr. F: No. (Pause) Was he? Was he president? I'm not indisputable now whether he was or not. . .

Doctor: What hospital are you in right now?

Mr F: I don't know. I'm just coming to.

"In 1976 Dr Butter again interviewed Mr F; Gerald Ford was president, and the Vietnam War was above Dr. Butters asked many of the same questons he had asked Mr F 6 years earlier, and Mr F gave many of the same answers. Here is a brief quotation from the 1976 interview:

Doctor: Do you know who the president of the United States is?

Mr F: Let's view uh....

Doctor: The president of the United States.

Mr F: Truman?

Doctor: Truman. Well, Truman goe back quite a while ago. There must be someone else

Mr F: Eisenhower?

Doctor: Uh-uh Who else? Who is president right now?

Mr F: Beats me

Doctor: Beats you. Okay, lease me give you some hints, okay? He used to be a congressman from Michigan. Does that help you?

Mr F: No.

Doctor: Okay, allow me give you another hint. His last name begins with the literal sense "F." Okay, who do you think it might be?

Mr F: I haven't the vaguest idea.

A not many minutes later:

Doctor: Are we at war now?

Mr F: I think that Korea war's all over

Doctor: The Korean war's all through the whole extent of right; Korea's all done, okay. .and what war did you fight in?

Mr F: sum of two units World War II. I didn't fight. I was an, uh bystander I was in the Air Force region troop.

"Mr. F has amnesia. Amnesia, especially anterograde amnesia, or memory los for late events, is an intriguing on the contrary serious consequence of long-term alcohol abuse generally associated with the label "Korsakoff's syndrome" Patients with Korsakoff's syndrome are permanently unable to remember just discovered information for more than a not many seconds. In the above example, Mr F could not remember the name of the hospital to which he was transferred, when he was admitted, nor the reason for his hospitalization. Past memories, compared with modern memories, are relatively well preserv It is clear that Mr F remembered his Air Force service, the presidents during that time in his life, and even--vaguely--the name of the Brockton VA Hospital where he had resided for nearly a decade.