Dateline Washington DC: Call for Military Medical Malpractice Hearings
The days of military immunity from medical malpractice may be over. Hudson Valley Press Online reports:
In order to provide servicemen and women with the rights to hold the military accountable for medical malpractice, Hinchey last month introduced the Carmelo Rodriguez Military Medical Accountability Act of 2008. The bill is named after the late Sgt. Carmelo Rodriguez of Ellenville, New York, who died of skin cancer last year after a series of extraordinary mistakes made by military medical personnel.
“Under the Federal Tort Claims Act, federal prisoners and even illegal aliens in the United States have the ability to seek damages from the federal government for medical malpractice, but members of our nation’s military still do not,” Hinchey wrote in letters to House Armed Services Committee Ike Skelton (D-MO) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) urging them to hold hearings on the matter. “While I believe it is time for the Congress to put our military personnel on equal footing with all Americans, I understand that some consider this to be a controversial proposal. In my view, it is the responsibility of Congress to aggressively examine this issue out of respect to the sacrifices our servicemen and women have made in order to serve our country. Those sacrifices and service surely merit Congress taking the time to hold a discussion of the circumstances that face the men and women of the armed forces.”
Its good to see Maurice Hinchey, a Democrat from New York, out in front of an effort to help our soldiers get the medical care they deserve.