The Broken Soldier

I have no particular political alignment. I have few political views I feel are unchangeable. I do not have a precipitous ideology. My approach to politics is more a matter of right and wrong than of right and left and center. I’m open to listening to different points of view, as I imagine are most people who recognize they aren’t omniscient. I spend time on each of the current crop of presidential candidates’ websites and blogs searching for entries regarding soldiers’ rights. I’ve been spending quite a lot of time recently on John Edwards’ site. To my complete surprise, it is his supporters who seem most sympathetic to the cause. And not in a patronizing, creating a new victim class, political football to throw at Republicans sort of way. They truly seem touched by my accounts, and have shared their own.

This post, to hurry up and get to it, is about one soldier, currently and for over a year residing at Walter Reed, and his experiences with Army medicine. He has had five surgeries in the past year, is pretty messed up, and nothing in the way of retribution is likely to happen to the doctor(s), Walter Reed, the Army, or the Federal Government in terms of equitable compensation or even punishment for their malpractice. The soldier in question had his colon attached backwards. Yep, you read that right. He is messed up because Army surgeons attached his colon backwards! Now I’m not a medical doctor, but I suspect if the Almighty had meant for the colon to be attached that way, He would have included that in His design.

It is high time to hold these people responsible for their actions. That will only happen after Feres is seriously revamped and soldiers and their families have the right to sue military doctors, military hospitals, branches of the military, and the Federal Government. To add to an idea broached in a previous post - doctors tend to try harder when there are consequences for carelessness and mistakes, but this isn’t about adding new ways to sue other people or other organizations. Though some will attempt to suggest otherwise, this a matter of justice. To ratchet up the rhetoric and drive the blatant injustice home, a convicted murderer and his/her family have more rights than soldiers and their families whose lives have been destroyed (or ended) by malpractice at the hands of military doctors.