Military medical malpractice

Why can't service members sue their military doctor for medical malpractice? The Feres Doctrine, which protects military doctors from malpractice claims is explained in the following links. The courts turned their backs on American Service Members more than half a century ago. Will the American people keep their backs turned, or will they push Congress to enact legislation to hold military doctors to the standards of their separate profession within the profession of arms? Legislation get kicked around every now and then but nothing has come of it yet.

• The Feres Doctrine Decision

- Ragin' Ranger Out

It could happen to you . . .

And who holds providers to standards of practice? What motivation could there possibly be for providers to cross a line somewhere and put troops in such a bad position in life.

And why do I believe this story - I SAW IT HAPPEN HERE.
Same type thing, just different names. That practice is so wrong, such a breach of ethical standards it makes my blood boil.

The transition area from Active Duty to Veteran status is a no-man's land. The laws get real fuzzy in there and bureaucratic policies and politics add to the confused process.

I find myself explaining Catch-22's over and over to young troops going through the MEB process and they are baffled by how distorted the whole system is. It's backward, crooked, disorienting. It is not user friendly and somewhere along the way the people involved in the process have developed an attitude that enables the PROCESS, not the TROOP.

It just kills me to watch an MEB officer act "unbiased" as they tell a young, injured soldier "just how easy this will all be if you just sign it now." "Oh, you don't want to take your 10 days to think about it, that just makes things drag on." "Oh no, the DAV rep or VFW rep can't help with THAT, they only do Veteran stuff, they'll help you after you sign."
Bullshit!!
Troops - talk to vet groups, other vets who have been through the system, look online, read the regs. Whatever you do, don't take anything at face value who looks at you like a statistic. Because that's what the system sees - statistics of how many are med-boarded and how fast. If the army can put you out without a medboard, THEY WILL - it's cheaper. And if they can medboard you faster, without proper treatment - THEY WILL - it's cheaper, AND - it makes THEM look better for "healing" you faster. A troop is not supposed to get medboarded until their condition is stable - and the VA doesn't pick up "where the army left off," either.
Getting into the VA for treatment takes time, and with an unstable condition this can mean deterioration and worsening of the condition.
I don't know where things went awry in the medical system, I had a great doc - the MEB office pissed me off, but medically, I got treated well - I was very fortunate to have an awesome doctor. Some of the other providers I have seen are a malpractice suit waiting to happen - oh yeah, FERES, how'd I forget.
I guess a good sign is that if a provider is never available to see civilians at the hospital, there may be a reason. Maybe that's why untrustworthy doctors end up treating all the MEDHOLD soldiers and only the MEDHOLD soldiers.

These docs are treating the most seriously injured troops from war. They're not treating guinea pigs. These troops have families, they have lives. They deserve the BEST care possible. And the doctors must be held to that same standard of accountability that other doctors must uphold.

There's something you don't see every day

On character:
I once heard character defined as having the discipline to perform a task at 0200 when no one else was around to watch. I've also hear it described as doing what's right for no other reason than the fact that it's the right thing to do.
I must say I was quite disappointed to hear a captain announce to his subordinates that he didn't feel compelled to attend a meeting with his subordinates because the colonel wasn't going to attend. So the captain needed the colonel to hold his hand through the meeting with the troops? I guess so. So who was there with the troops? Not the captain, not the colonel, no, just the sergeant major who has no choice but either pass the buck to the colonel or just say "I have no idea what you're talking about." And he probably had no idea. No senior administrator or commander wants to believe anything that comes out of meetings about unethical medical practices. The military puts its doctors in a pretty safe bubble - Feres.
Where does character fit into all this? Well, that's the problem -- it doesn't. I haven't seen many leaders of character since I left the line. If a company commander needs a colonel's direct line of sight to do the right thing then our military is just falling to pieces. Captains shouldn't need that kind of supervision, and soldiers should never have reason to worry that their captain is only getting pulled along by the colonel on a tight leash, taking every opportunity to dodge some irksome duty.

-- Ragin' Ranger OUT