ATTENTION SOLDIERS, SAILORS, AIRMEN, & MARINES!
MILITARY MEDICAL CARE: BENEFIT OR DANGER?
When active duty military personnel are severely injured or killed in the course
of non combat related medical care, they and/or their families have no recourse. (http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/6156)The U.S. Supreme Court decided in 1950 that the government is not liable under the Federal Tort Claims Act for injuries
to active duty military personnel that result from the negligence of military doctors. It shields the government and military
medical personnel from any accountability for harm done to active duty military personnel – no matter how gross the
malpractice might be – including death. http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/6162
The Supreme Court's decision to bar suits against the federal government by military
personnel and their families for injuries arising from medical care incident to military service became known as the Feres
doctrine. (http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/blferes.htm) Additionally, the courts have included any claims involving the
use of military medical facilities by active duty servicemembers as "incident to service." This denies them and
their families a remedy for medical malpractice that every civilian, illegal immigrant, and incarcerated criminal is privy
to. (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/03/14/BA1FVJB0A.DTL)
Perhaps
the original intent of the Feres doctrine was to protect the heroic actions by doctors and other medical personnel
during times of combat. However, the Feres doctrine is being
used to provide a safe haven from accountability for even the most reckless malpractice – including that which
occurs far away from the battlefield and under ideal conditions. This doctrine encourages substandard medical
care for our servicemembers and protects incompetent military medical personnel from accountability - both during and after
their military service. (http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/6160)
In October 1997, incompetent
doctors associated with military medicine were reported to be an important issue and one that the Pentagon promised to address
(www.pulitzer.org/archives/6163). However, eight years later the prescription for and administration of
a contraindicated medication (a DEA Schedule II narcotic with an analgesic potency of about 80-100
times that of morphine and 100s of times that of heroin) resulted in the death of a soldier who
trusted the military to competently care for him. The attending physician Dr. Robert Tibesar was promoted two months after
the death, received his board certification a year later, and continued to practice medicine at the same military medical
facility until approximately May/June 2008. Dr. Tibesar currently serves as an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota
and practices at Pediatric ENT Associates in the Children's Specialty Center at Children's Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
(http://www.pedsent.com/aboutus/drtibesar.htm) To make matters worse, the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice refuses to discipline the doctor for his reckless
behavior. (Minnesota Board of Medical Practice)
