Walter Reed Patients Told to Keep Quiet - ArmyTimes

Gates' Candor on Hospital Woes Lauded - ArmyTimes

Today, the Washington Post authors of the original article mentioned above have published a new article that seemingly looks to sink more teeth into the issue and possibly into those responsible within the military who have since been promoted. As in most bureacracies, the fasted way to replace a civil servant is promotion to some other job - hopefully where they can cause less damage.

UPDATE - [Five hours after this article was posted, the Army fired the general in charge of Walter Reed Army Medical Center and replaced him, temporarily at least, with Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley who was equally as incompetent and then promoted after serving in the same post prior (see below)]. - Read the story here.

UPDATE - 3.2.07 [Mainstream media doing their job, better late than never, has now caused enough stir to get the Bush White House to act. This is how it should work - at all times]. - Read the story here. Or read an alternative version here.

UPDATE - 3.3.07 [Temporary Walter Reed commander who formerly failed to correct problems at Walter Reed years ago is replaced after one day. The Army named Maj. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker as the new commander of Walter Reed only a day after picking Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, who had previously commanded the medical center, as the temporary chief. Kiley's selection had angered soldiers and family groups -- and, more important, Gates -- because of their belief that he had been aware of problems at the hospital and done little to address them. Additionally, Defense Secretary Gates fired the Secretary of the Army yesterday]. - Read the story here.

UPDATE - 3.13.07 [Army Surgeon General Kevin C. Kiley abruptly stepped down under pressure from military superiors. The conditions at Walter Reed were detailed last month by The Washington Post. Since then, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has forced Army Secretary Francis Harvey to resign. Gates was displeased that Harvey had initially chosen Kiley as interim commander of Walter Reed, officials said privately at the time.AP - Pauline Jelinek]. - Read the story here.

The new article, Hospital Officials Knew of Neglect - Complaints About Walter Reed Were Voiced for Years has a few new revelations that might interest you, particularly if you indeed do "Support Our Troops".

• A procession of Pentagon and Walter Reed officials expressed surprise last week about the living conditions and bureaucratic nightmares faced by wounded soldiers staying at the D.C. medical facility. But as far back as 2003, the commander of Walter Reed, Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, who is now the Army's top medical officer, was told that soldiers who were wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan were languishing and lost on the grounds, according to interviews.

• Retired Maj. Gen. Kenneth L. Farmer Jr., who commanded Walter Reed for two years until last August, said that he was aware of outpatient problems and that there were "ongoing reviews and discussions" about how to fix them when he left. He said he shared many of those issues with Kiley, his immediate commander. Last summer when he turned over command to Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, Farmer said, "there were a variety of things we identified as opportunities for continued improvement."

• In 2004, Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.) and his wife stopped visiting the wounded at Walter Reed out of frustration. Young said he voiced concerns to commanders over troubling incidents he witnessed but was rebuffed or ignored. "When Bev or I would bring problems to the attention of authorities of Walter Reed, we were made to feel very uncomfortable," said Young, who began visiting the wounded recuperating at other facilities.

  Beverly Young said she complained to Kiley several times. She once visited a soldier who was lying in urine on his mattress pad in the hospital. When a nurse ignored her, Young said, "I went flying down to Kevin Kiley's office again, and got nowhere. He has skirted this stuff for five years and blamed everyone else."

  Young said that even after Kiley left Walter Reed to become the Army's surgeon general, "if anything could have been done to correct problems, he could have done it."

• On Feb. 17, 2005, Kiley sat in a congressional hearing room as Sgt. 1st Class John Allen, injured in Afghanistan in 2002, described what he called a "dysfunctional system" at Walter Reed in which "soldiers go months without pay, nowhere to live, their medical appointments canceled."

• Last October, Joyce Rumsfeld, the wife of then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, was taken to Walter Reed by a friend concerned about outpatient treatment. She attended a weekly meeting, called Girls Time Out, at which wives, girlfriends and mothers of soldiers exchange stories and offer support.

  According to three people who attended the gathering, Rumsfeld listened quietly. Some of the women did not know who she was. At the end of the meeting, Rumsfeld asked one of the staff members whether she thought that the soldiers her husband was meeting on his visits had been handpicked to paint a rosy picture of their time there. The answer was yes.

  When Walter Reed officials found out that Rumsfeld had visited, they told the friend who brought her -- a woman who had volunteered there many times -- that she was no longer welcome on the grounds.

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READ THE ARTICLE

Hospital Officials Knew of Neglect - Complaints About Walter Reed Were Voiced for Years

If you haven't done so, read the original article, Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration At Army's Top Medical Facility.

You can utilize the above article in order to make your voice heard.

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3.1.2007

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