A patient with head injury opens eyes on painful stimulus, uses inappropriate words and localizes pain. What is his GCS score: September 2012

**Core Concept**
The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) is a neurological scale used to assess the level of consciousness in a person following a head injury or other brain injury. It evaluates eye opening, verbal response, and motor response.

**Why the Correct Answer is Right**
To calculate the GCS score, each of the three components (eye opening, verbal response, and motor response) is given a score from 1 to 5, with 1 being the worst and 5 being the best. In this case, the patient opens their eyes on painful stimulus, which gives a score of 2. They use inappropriate words, which gives a score of 2 for verbal response. They localize pain, which gives a score of 4 for motor response. The total GCS score is the sum of these individual scores.

**Why Each Wrong Option is Incorrect**
* **Option A:** This option is not provided.
* **Option B:** This option is not provided.
* **Option C:** This option is not provided.
* **Option D:** This option is not provided.

**Clinical Pearl / High-Yield Fact**
A GCS score of 8-12 is typically considered severe head injury, 13-15 is moderate, and 16-15 is mild.

**Correct Answer: 8.**