Military Medical Scandal News

Walter Reed official touts new medical care units

Kristin M. Hall, Associated Press

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — The deputy commander of Walter Reed Army Medical Center said Thursday that wounded soldiers are healing faster and returning to duty quicker in new specialized medical care units.

Brig. Gen. Michael S. Tucker visited a warrior transition unit at Fort Campbell and toured new barracks designed for injured soldiers. Some of the rooms are designed for soldiers in wheelchairs with lowered sinks and beds and larger showers.

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Vets group stands tall for sick GIs

Denver Post — An Army general said Wednesday that a “Wounded Warrior Transition Brigade” would come soon to Fort Carson. It will help soldiers with post-traumatic stress and brain injuries.

As Brig. Gen. Michael Tucker spoke at Colorado’s Mountain Post, no one from Veterans for America stood beside him.

They should have. VFA played as big a role in Tucker’s announcement as any of Fort Carson’s brass. Read More.

Panel on Walter Reed Woes Issues Strong Rebuke

The New York Times — An independent panel assessing dilapidated facilities and red tape for wounded Iraq war veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Wednesday issued a sweeping indictment of leadership failures, inadequate training and staffing shortages.

The panel, headed by two former secretaries of the Army, Togo D. West Jr. and John O. Marsh Jr., found that a high standard of care for troops when they were first evacuated from war zones and hospitalized fell apart when they became outpatients, with a “breakdown in health services” and “compassion fatigue” on the part of overworked staff members.

“Leadership at Walter Reed should have been aware of poor living conditions and administrative hurdles and failed to place proper priority on solutions,” the panel said in a summary of its draft report released at a meeting at Walter Reed. Read More.

Walter Reed is Not a Photo Op

The Huffington Post — I just learned that President Bush will visit Walter Reed tomorrow afternoon. The President should use his visit to gather first-hand accounts from our newly injured soldiers. He should use this trip to become more aware of the appalling state of military and veterans health care in this country, and he should use this trip to reinforce the responsibility that he has to ensure that our service members and veterans receive care for their injuries that is worthy of their sacrifices.

If the President uses this trip as an opportunity to justify a veto of the supplemental, then SHAME ON HIM. Walter Reed is still broken. The DoD healthcare system in this country is still broken. The social contract between our country and those it sends to war is broken. Now is the time for action. Read More.

President’s Visit to Walter Reed: Statement of Veterans for America

Veterans for America brought the Walter Reed story to light, and we are working tirelessly to expose and solve the widespread failures within DoD and the VA.

Statement: From Bobby Muller, President, Veterans for America
Walter Reed is Not a Photo Op. Read More.

Bush to Visit With Troops at Walter Reed

Forbes.com — President Bush carries a promise of better treatment for neglected war veterans on a tour of Walter Reed Army Medical Center Friday, but critics questioned the timing of the visit six weeks after shoddy conditions were exposed there.

Bobby Muller, president of Veterans for America, said Bush isn’t going to see areas of the hospital most in need of change. He cited Ward 54, where soldiers are suffering from acute mental health conditions, and outpatient holding facilities where soldiers see long waits to get processed out of the Army.”Walter Reed is not a photo-op,” Muller said. “Walter Reed is still broken. The DoD health care system is still broken. … Our troops need their commander in chief to start working harder for them.” Read More.

Army Sending Injured Troops Back to Iraq

Salon

Mark Benjamin

Mar 14, 2007

March 11, 2007 | COLUMBUS, Ga. — “This is not right,” said Master Sgt. Ronald Jenkins, who has been ordered to Iraq even though he has a spine problem that doctors say would be damaged further by heavy Army protective gear. “This whole thing is about taking care of soldiers,” he said angrily. “If you are fit to fight you are fit to fight. If you are not fit to fight, then you are not fit to fight.”

As the military scrambles to pour more soldiers into Iraq, a unit of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Benning, Ga., is deploying troops with serious injuries and other medical problems, including GIs who doctors have said are medically unfit for battle. Some are too injured to wear their body armor, according to medical records.

On Feb. 15, Master Sgt. Jenkins and 74 other soldiers with medical conditions from the 3rd Division’s 3rd Brigade were summoned to a meeting with the division surgeon and brigade surgeon. These are the men responsible for handling each soldier’s “physical profile,” an Army document that lists for commanders an injured soldier’s physical limitations because of medical problems — from being unable to fire a weapon to the inability to move and dive in three-to-five-second increments to avoid enemy fire. Jenkins and other soldiers claim that the division and brigade surgeons summarily downgraded soldiers’ profiles, without even a medical exam, in order to deploy them to Iraq. It is a claim division officials deny.

The 3,900-strong 3rd Brigade is now leaving for Iraq for a third time in a steady stream. In fact, some of the troops with medical conditions interviewed by Salon last week are already gone. Others are slated to fly out within a week, but are fighting against their chain of command, holding out hope that because of their ills they will ultimately not be forced to go. Jenkins, who is still in Georgia, thinks doctors are helping to send hurt soldiers like him to Iraq to make units going there appear to be at full strength. “This is about the numbers,” he said flatly.

That is what worries Steve Robinson, director of veterans affairs at Veterans for America, who has long been concerned that the military was pressing injured troops into Iraq. “Did they send anybody down range that cannot wear a helmet, that cannot wear body armor?” Robinson asked rhetorically. “Well that is wrong. It is a war zone.” Robinson thinks that the possibility that physical profiles may have been altered improperly has the makings of a scandal. “My concerns are that this needs serious investigation. You cannot just look at somebody and tell that they were fit,” he said. “It smacks of an overstretched military that is in crisis mode to get people onto the battlefield.”

Read the complete article here.