Dear Friends,

People who fake after injuries in order to obtain financial and other gains, are unfortunately a sad reality, an unjustified burden for the social security system, the health services, the insurance companies and the society in general.

In the case of head injuries, the problem is more pronounced. Because objective findings are difficult to establish, it is not rare that litigation occurs and some people go to court in order to obtain compensations.

Common complaints after head injuries include headaches, migraine, memory problems, concentration difficulties, anxiety or other psychological or cognitive disorders. Definitely these symptoms are real in many cases.

However the fact that is difficult to document these real disorders in patients after head injury, creates opportunities for some to exploit the situation by feigning or exaggerating their symptoms.

The question is how to detect and identify those malingering and protect those who say the truth?

Well, the problem of malingering for obtaining financial or other compensations may be as old as humanity. People acting as simulators, have always existed.

In the United States, extensive scientific work has been done in this field. Scientists from various disciplines have extensively studied human behavior relevant to simulation and lying, brain physiology and the reactions of the human body under stress and various psychological situations.

In order to separate simulators from honest patients who say the truth, technologies such as the lie detector have been developed as well as numerous neuropsychological tests. More recently extensive work has been done with the functional magnetic resonance imaging. It is a real time imaging technology of the functional brain circuits. It helps show the structures in the brain that get activated during specific sentimental, cognitive and other psychological states. It is a promising technology and it could be soon that when a person feigns or lies, the functional magnetic resonance imaging may show the activation of the relevant brain circuitry.

You will find more information on this interesting topic in the article Head injuries, fake suffering, claims, insurance companies and court that you will find attached with our 60th Progressive Newsletter.

We hope that in the near future, science, medicine and technology progress, will allow the unerring identification of those who lie. This will be beneficial for the honest, truth telling patients, for the social security systems, the health services, the insurance companies and the society in general.

Our Quote:

"The worst thing in your life may contain seeds of the best. When you can see crisis as an opportunity, your life becomes not easier, but more satisfying."

Joe Kogel