Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Washington Post
June 9, 2008
Pg. 16
The very premise of placing seriously injured service members into "warrior transition units" commanded by combat arms personnel is overdue for discussion [front page, June 3]. The well-publicized psychiatric case of Army Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside [front page, Jan. 31] highlighted the potential for poor patient outcomes when injured soldiers are placed under the administrative and court-martial authority of non-medical combat personnel whose discretionary powers may conflict with the expert opinions and diagnoses of uniformed health-care professionals.
Since the extensive coverage of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center scandal last year, a dangerous narrative has emerged that the military's medical community lacks the requisite compassion and perspective to provide for those in its care injured in combat. When something preventable goes awry for patients in these "warrior transition units," the response from their leadership is all too often: "It's something we hadn't considered."
The long-term implications for having shadow chains of command in Army medical centers and requiring medical professionals in stateside definitive-care facilities to dress in combat uniforms devoid of medical branch insignia are but two issues that demand further examination.
STEPHEN K. TRYNOSKY, Washington
The writer is a reserve captain in the Army Medical Service Corps.
June 9, 2008
Pg. 16
The very premise of placing seriously injured service members into "warrior transition units" commanded by combat arms personnel is overdue for discussion [front page, June 3]. The well-publicized psychiatric case of Army Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside [front page, Jan. 31] highlighted the potential for poor patient outcomes when injured soldiers are placed under the administrative and court-martial authority of non-medical combat personnel whose discretionary powers may conflict with the expert opinions and diagnoses of uniformed health-care professionals.
Since the extensive coverage of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center scandal last year, a dangerous narrative has emerged that the military's medical community lacks the requisite compassion and perspective to provide for those in its care injured in combat. When something preventable goes awry for patients in these "warrior transition units," the response from their leadership is all too often: "It's something we hadn't considered."
The long-term implications for having shadow chains of command in Army medical centers and requiring medical professionals in stateside definitive-care facilities to dress in combat uniforms devoid of medical branch insignia are but two issues that demand further examination.
STEPHEN K. TRYNOSKY, Washington
The writer is a reserve captain in the Army Medical Service Corps.