(May 20, 2008 – find an update to this post)
[Let me begin this post with a bit of a disclaimer. My husband is a retired veteran of the Air Force — 20+ years — before I knew him, but that doesn’t diminish my pride in the fact that he served our country. His son and our daughter in law are both career Air Force, too, and our other daughter-in-law just completed eight years in the Air Force. So yes, we are huge supporters of our American soldiers.]
The story I’m about to tell you holds several interests and outrages and raises some important questions:
1. Since when is a soldier not a citizen first?
2. How is it that an accurate diagnosis could turn into a MISdiagnosis 10 years later?
This story is told on CBS’s evening news — about a young soldier, Sgt. Carmelo Rodriguez, who joined the Marines in 1997. During his induction physical, the doctor noted a mole and called it a melanoma on Carmelo’s records. But nothing was said to Carmelo, and the paperwork was filed. Carmelo went through training, has spent these ensuing years in the Marines, and was deployed to Iraq…
…. where last year, the mole began to get inflamed and filled with pus…. so the sargeant checked in with the military doctor. He was told it was a wart, and to “wait and see.”
Sargeant Carmelo Rodriguez died 18 months later, of melanoma.
Turns out, according to the military itself, that there are “several hundred” cases of misdiagnosis of medical problems for soldiers in Iraq each year. Others have died from misdiagnosis and medical mistakes, too.
And I SO UNDERSTAND THE OUTRAGE! Because I’ve been there — misdiagnosed and floundering. There are tens of thousands of us — but most of us aren’t soldiers…
So here is OUTRAGE #2: Because Sgt. Carmelo Rodriguez was misdiagnosed by a military doctor, his family has no legal recourse. None Nada. A law passed in 1950, called the Feres Doctrine, removes that right for soldiers, even when injured by the actions of a military doctor.
But wait! There’s more!
Outrage #3: Because Carmelo was sent home to die — so he could be with his family — he was discharged from service. That means that he can have a military funeral — but his family has to pay for it.
This entire story is just wrong on so many levels. The original silence on the part of the induction doctor who didn’t speak up about Carmelo’s melanoma, the missed-diagnosis on the part of the doctor in Iraq, the fact that Carmelo died!, the fact that the family cannot find legal recourse to be compensated for his loss (to help raise his son), and the fact that the military would simply turn a blind eye toward paying for the funeral. And those facts are probably only the tip of the iceberg.
Questions for the two military doctors: Since when don’t you tell/warn someone about their medical condition? How could you have missed melanoma?
Questions for the Marines: Since when do our soldiers cease to be American citizens with the same rights the rest of us have to sue? And since when does the military send a soldier home to die — especially one who has seen combat — and not pay for the soldier’s funeral?
The lack of communication, misdiagnosis and death are bad enough. When compounded by the final insults of rights removal and not helping to bury the soldier — all Americans should be offended.
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Its an outrage and something needs to be done to prevent such mistreatment. I am in the military and have spinal degeneration in both my lower back and neck with bad disks. I have been dealing with this since half way through my last tour ending in June of 2009. I have been to physical medicine, physical therapy, chiropractors, neurosurgeons (1 civilian and another military) and have had steroid injections that just made my issues worse. The civilian Neurosurgeon did not tell my PA what he wanted to hear so my PA sent me to an on post Neurosurgeon that did not examine me or ask me any questions or question the fact that my MRI was 10 months old. When you have degenerative disk disease it gets worse over time. The on post Neurosurgeon simply said I did not require surgery at this time which contradicted what the civilian neurosurgeon recommended. The civilian Dr. took the time to ask me questions, sit and go over the details of my MRI and showed compassionate concern. In the span of 2 days my primary care provider (PA) then changed my status from nondeployable to deployable allowing me to carry full combat load and gear while running 2 miles. Stopped giving me any pain killers (which were not opiate based) and told me to take celebrex which does nothing for my constant headaches, loss of function in both my left arm and left leg, the spinal lock I get if I attempt to run and the all around major discomfort I have daily. I can not run, I can not carry a combat load and I am getting worse. The one fact is that the PA’s are not doctors…they are only assistants, they are making life altering decisions and do not have the credentials to do so. They placate the situation and tell you to be strong and carry on while causing you to feel guilty. Trying to get treatment is stressful and gets nothing accomplished.
Carmelo Rodriguez should have been treated as soon as anything was noticed and I regret that the situation went to the extremes without any repercussions. My heart goes out to the family.
I am outraged. Not only because of the thousand of our men and women in uniform are suffering at the hands of negligent medical care, but also, that I have a child with sever special needs due to neglect during my pregnancy while on Active Duty in the Air Force. It has been 18 years and my son will never live on his own, drive a car, have a job etc…. When I learned there was NOTHING I could do in recourse of the negligent care which left my son in severe fetal distress causing mental retardation, I was devestated. It is mind numbing to know that when you sign your name on the dotted line you become Government Issue and no longer have a say so in your life. Even when it comes to experimental drugs. Military hospitals are nothing more than Human Hobby Shops. Our men and women in uniform deserve better and I can’t wait for the day that the Feres Doctrine is repealed.