Font ResizeA colonel who underwent surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center to remove a cancerous breast says her physician operated on the wrong side of her body, mistakenly removing several healthy lymph nodes and disfiguring her.
But the government rejected all claims brought by Col. Adele Connell of Stansbury Park under a law that makes it nearly impossible for GIs and their families to sue the military for medical malpractice.
Connell hopes a bill the House Judiciary Committee expects to consider today will allow military families like hers to hold the government accountable for noncombat-related injuries. The Carmelo Rodriguez Military Medical Accountability Act would overturn the so-called Feres Doctrine, named for a 1950 Supreme Court case that effectively bars service members from collecting damages for death or injuries caused by negligence.
"These last eight months have been unbelievably difficult," said Connell, 57, who has served in the military for more than 30 years. "The reason I am going public is that I want to try to improve the military for soldiers serving all over the world."
Connell's attorney, Dean Swartz of Washington, D.C., said it's outrageous that imprisoned felons can sue for damages from medical malpractice, but that same right is denied members of the U.S. military.
"This is a no-brainer," he said. "When doctors operate on the wrong side of a patient and cause harm, there should be some compensation."
Connell now suffers from lymphedema, a disease characterized by swelling, constant sharp pains in her right arm and little protection against infections, according to the lawsuit.
It alleges the attending physician was a civilian who supervised a dozen military doctors, nurses and other health-care professionals involved in the operation. Connell contends the military hospital did not have the authority to monitor the supervising physician, who was under contract with the government.
A Walter Reed spokesman did not immediately return telephone calls.
The bill before Congress is named after Marine Sgt. Carmelo Rodriguez, 28, who served a tour of duty in Iraq. A blotch on his buttock went untreated and was misdiagnosed as a wart multiple times by military doctors, supporters say. Years later, Rodriguez learned he had melanoma. He died last year from skin cancer.
The legislation would be retroactive to 1997, potentially affecting the outcome of a lawsuit brought by Alexis Witt of Salt Lake City.
Her 25-year-old husband, Sgt. Dean Witt, developed severe abdominal pains after he transferred from Hill Air Force Base to become a recruiter in California. After surgery to remove his appendix in 2003, he purportedly was left in the care of two hospital interns and a student nurse. When he began turning blue, the staff allegedly rushed him to the recovery room's pediatrics section and used equipment designed for infants and children to assist in his breathing. Witt, left in a vegetative state for three months, died when feeding tubes were removed.
A California federal judge dismissed the case, which is now on appeal.
A bill a congressional committee expects to consider today would overturn the doctrine, which prevents members of the U.S. military from suing the federal government for injuries suffered during military service or due to negligence by others in the military. The doctrine is named after the U.S. Supreme Court case Feres v. United States, in which the court ruled servicemen sickened by radioactive weapons fragments from a crashed airplane could not recover damages from the government.
