Airman can't sue for botched surgery

[babylonsister]

Arlington airman can't sue for botched surgery
By DARREN BARBEE



An Arlington airman whose legs were amputated after a gallbladder surgery went terribly wrong lacks the same basic legal right to sue his surgeon that state and federal prisoners enjoy, a New York congressman says.

But a bill in Congress could change that.

Airman 1st Class Colton Read, 20, was in serious condition at the University of California Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, where he was transferred after surgery that accidentally cut off blood flow to his legs. During the procedure at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., a vital artery, the aorta, was nicked or punctured as a device was being threaded into his belly, leading to complications, his family said Tuesday.

Under a 1950 Supreme Court decision known as the Feres Doctrine, Read or his family cannot collect damages from his military doctors for negligence or malpractice. As a result of the decision, "people who are either enlisted or drafted into the military become secondary, even tertiary citizens of the United States," said Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y.

Hinchey introduced legislation this year that he said would "enable members of the armed services and or their families to hold military medical activities accountable for medical care that may have been negligent."

He added that it would not allow soldiers to sue for combat-related injuries.

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http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1501613.html?storylink=omni_popular

[1]

1. "But a bill in Congress could change that."

i'm sure the airman is pleased about that...

[Statistical]

2. Sadly this has been policy for military for as long as I have been alive.

Major reason why I know soldiers who would use a civilian doctor (w/ copay).

Some military doctors are great and are there because they want to give back and/or serve their country.

Some however are there because they can't practice medicine anywhere else do to high malpractice premiums from multiple claims.
So they sign up for 4 years, get officer pay, no malpractice insurance and when they get out their premiums are low again.

Hopefully they didn't kill anyone or amputate limbs do to botched surgery too much.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

4. I worked for a law firm years ago that sued Ireland Army Hospital at

Fort Knox, Kentucky representing the wife of a soldier stationed there. The surgeons removed her breast when she went in for a hysterectomy. The government attorneys drug the case out for over ten years before finally settling with the woman. I think in this case they would have done anything just to get rid of the case and finally threw the woman some cash to make it go away. The attorney at the law office just wouldn't quit. Period. He wouldn't accept that a doctor wouldn't be held accountable and he made it his mission in life to get the government to admit wrongdoing.

[Statistical]

5. Key word is "wife of a soldier".

Had it been the soldier who was injured she would have no recourse.

The case would simply have been summarily dismissed.

[Angleae]

7. And that was a restriction removed only about 20 years ago.

Back when I went in (1986), even dependents coudn't sue for malpractice.

[TexasObserver]

3. Recommend

[juno jones]

6. This is a weird one.

Why was a 20-something having a gallbladder removed in the first place? I admit I do not know the details, but diet is usually the first line of defense.

Travis Air-Force base. I used to live just uphill. I have driven thru the housing out there with the grafitti on the street, I mean ACTUAL roadway covered with scrawls. I saw military drones over the base before they became fashionable. That place creeps me out. They are very secretive and I suspect that had something to do with the late transfer for this patient. Just my 2 cents, IMO, etc.

Best wishes to him and his family, it's not his fault.