EDITORIAL: Need to Reform Veterans Care Extends Beyond Walter Reed

Mar 05, 02:20 PM

Current Headlines: By Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa

Mar. 5--Congress will hold hearings this week on the shameful outpatient treatment wounded veterans have received at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center after returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

While medical teams have worked heroically to save the lives of those with horrific injuries, many survivors have been warehoused in a variety of buildings in and around Walter Reed. The Washington Post found "a holding ground for physically and psychologically damaged outpatients. Almost 700 of them -- the majority soldiers, with some Marines -- have been released from hospital beds but still need treatment or are awaiting bureaucratic decisions before being discharged or returned to active duty.

"They suffer from brain injuries, severed arms and legs, organ and back damage, and various degrees of post-traumatic stress. ... They outnumber hospital patients at Walter Reed 17 to 1. ... They take up every available bed on post and spill into dozens of nearby hotels and apartments leased by the Army. The average stay is 10 months, but some have been stuck there for as long as two years."

The Post added, "On the worst days, soldiers say they feel like they are living a chapter of 'Catch-22.' The wounded manage other wounded. Soldiers dealing with psychological disorders of their own have been put in charge of others at risk of suicide."

Last week Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey fired Maj. Gen. George Weightman, the commander of the hospital for the past six months, then installed Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley, the Army's top doctor, who had overseen Walter Reed from 2000-2004.

But Kiley downplayed the problems, saying they "weren't serious and there weren't a lot of them" and that they were not "emblematic of a process of Walter Reed that has abandoned soldiers and their families."

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates then removed Harvey, and Kiley's fate is unclear.

"I am disappointed that some in the Army have not adequately appreciated the seriousness of the situation pertaining to outpatient care at Walter Reed," Gates said. "Some have shown too much defensiveness and have not shown enough focus on digging into and addressing the problems."

Thus far, 1.5 million men and women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan -- 40 percent of whom are members of the National Guard or reserves. All told, 600,000 veterans of the current wars have left the service.

But care for the wounded -- not just at Walter Reed, but at other facilities as well -- often has been lacking.

The Post reported that one mother, Sandy Karen, "was horrified when her 21-year-old son was discharged from the Naval Medical Center in San Diego and told to report to an outpatient barracks swarming with fruit flies, trash overflowing and a syringe on the table."

She recalled, "This kid has an open wound, and I'm gonna put him in a room with fruit flies?" She took him to a hotel.

The wounds are not just physical. Of the 184,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who have sought VA health care, almost 64,000 have had potential symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, drug abuse or other mental disorders, the Veterans Health Administration reported in June.

Meanwhile, the Army has turned its back on many who have suffered.

The Post reported Cpl. Dell McLeod was denied disability compensation benefits, although his skull had been crushed by a steel door in Iraq, leaving him disoriented and unable to count change in a cafeteria. In rejecting his claim, the Army contended he had not done well in high school, although he had been deemed competent to join the service.

His wife contacted a congressional staffer, who helped McLeod get his benefits.

These men and women thrust into harm's way have shown a selfless dedication to their mission, staying in hostile lands far longer than could have been imagined. An appreciative society should be doing as much for them as is humanly possible.

But for too many who have sustained injuries -- physical or mental -- the bureaucratic response has been inexcusable and deplorable. Fortunately, Gates has made it clear he won't tolerate the situation, rather than waiting for the headlines to recede. Both the review and reform need to extend beyond Walter Reed.

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