[Triple Word Score]

I knew a guy years ago who was waiting for a million-dollar settlement he'd won from the Army--it was winding through appeals. He had a bruise on his leg that wouldn't heal, and it gave him pain for months. The Army docs kept giving him ibuprofin and telling him he was goldbricking, go back to duty--they never even did so much as an X-ray. While home on leave, the leg fractured for no apparent reason, and at the civilian hospital, they took the leg off at the hip that same night--bone cancer, and it was spreading. He was in critical condition for awhile. When the Army found out where he was they charged him with being AWOL or maybe even desertion, I forget. There were other charges too that had to do with seeking outside medical attention without permission or some such nonsense. The Army docs disputed that he could possibly have cancer.

They removed him from the civilian hospital by force and put him in jail instead of in a hospital, which he still needed. The family got a lawyer, and got their Senators and Congresscritters involved....he got a discharge and then sued. Anyway, of course I only knew his side of the story.

[msdrby]

That is terrible. Much worse than my story.

Where I was stationed, the Army hospital was no longer allowed to have a maternity ward because of the infant mortality rate. They were forced to contract with the civilian hospital for many pediatric issues as well.

My infant son had ear infections that the army docs just gave him antibiotic after antibiotic for. Of course, the infections never cleared up because he was at that point immune to the antibiotics. I kept getting in trouble with my command (which wasn't Army) because of having to stay at home with him due to the side effects of all the antibiotics. They claimed that they could not give him tubes until his infection cleared, but when it was finally clear, they refused to give him tubes because he no longer had an infection.

After 10 documented cases in 8 months, the Army finally agreed to let me take him to see a civilian doc. He was almost entirely deaf, and got admitted ASAP to have tubes put in and adenoids removed. After the civilian doctor performed the operation, she said that the fluid behind his ear drums was a solid mass, much like Elmer's paste. He recovered most of his hearing, but does have some irreversible damage.

Another time, my son had a stomach virus, and was vomiting. I took him to the emergency room (same hospital - I had no choice) because he wouldn't take liquids. They hooked him up to an IV and sent us home in a couple of hours. They told me to only bring him back if he got worse. I took him back again for the same reason the next day. They did the same thing, IV and a Popsicle, then sent us home. Said he would be fine for daycare the next day, that he was just dehydrated. While at the daycare, he had Gran Mal seizures. I was already at the hospital for a routine eye appt., so I met him at the emergency room. While we were there he had more seizures. Within minutes, they shipped him off to the same civilian hospital that had done his ears. We ended up staying in the pediatric ward for the rest for the week for observation. The pediatrician was appalled that the Army hospital sent us home in the first place.

After that, I my CO gave me permission to take my son to the doctor of my choice, regardless of the commandant's orders.