From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

War produces medical miracles, but who gets to use them?

Hello again, I'm Orin Alney, and this is To the Poet from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

Wars have been hugely important for medical science that saves lives. In contrast to Vietnam,

90% of the wounded are coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan. That's led to renewed focus on

repaying their sacrifices by making their lives better, despite disabilities caused by lost limbs

and spinal cord injuries.

Innovations include a wheelchair that climbs stairs, but like other new high-tech inventions,

it's very expensive. We'll talk with the inventor, a veteran who has one, and others,

about what it takes and what it costs to restore a semblance of normal life.

On reporter's notebook on this Memorial Day, the GI Film Festival.

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica

and from the Public Radio International Program Fund,

whose contributors include the Ford Foundation,

the John D. and Catherine

T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, dedicated to the idea that all

people deserve the chance to live a healthy, productive life. Information at gatesfoundation.org.

Hello again. I'm Warren Alney, back with a Memorial Day edition of To the Point. Like other

wars, the war in Iraq has produced

its share of medical miracles that help repave the sacrifices made by wounded veterans. But some

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