Proposed VA Rule Would Lift Restriction On Gender Reassignment Surgery For Vets
If approved, the regulation would allow Veterans Affairs hospitals to provide the procedure. In other news, the struggles of an old Army buddy prompt a scientist to study battlefield brain injuries.
Washington Post:
VA Considers Gender-Confirming Surgery For Veterans
As debate swirls around who can use what restroom, the Department of Veterans Affairs is moving to change regulations so VA hospitals can provide gender confirming, or gender reassignment, surgery. ... The Williams Institute, a University of California at Los Angeles think tank on sexual orientation and identity, estimates there are about 134,000 transgender veterans or retirees from the National Guard or the Reserves. There is no estimate on the number that might seek the surgery at the VA. (Davidson, 6/8)
NPR:
An Army Buddy's Call For Help Sends A Scientist On A Brain Injury Quest
"Somehow I realized he's asking for help," [Kit] Parker says. "It's not being verbalized, but that's why he's calling." Parker would spend the next decade answering that call. He would reset the trajectory of his career. And ultimately, he would make a discovery that changed scientists' understanding of the battlefield brain injuries sustained by hundreds of thousands of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Hamilton, 6/8)
