Pfc. Chris Eckert Overdose raises questions at Walter Reed

Have you ever been in a hospital and not had a nurse bring in the medication you are supposed to take? So why is this still going on at Walter Reed?

Overdose raises questions at Walter Reed

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Mar 21, 2008 15:47:51 EDT

The night before he was to enter a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program, Army Pfc. Chris Eckert swallowed a pill prescribed to help him sleep without the nightmares that have tormented him since he left Iraq.

Then, sitting in his barracks at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Jan. 17, he counted out seven methadone tablets and popped them into his mouth.

The next morning, his squad leader found him on the floor in a puddle of his own vomit, but still alive.

“They told me, ‘Your son is not going to make it,’ ” said Eckert’s mother, Rose Symborski. “He was on life support for five days.”

Since June 2007, 11 troops have died in the Army’s Wounded Warrior units, according to Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, the Army’s Surgeon General.

Eckert’s mother blames the Army for not looking out for him, while Army officials say Eckert needed to do more to help himself. But both sides agree his case is an example of the difficulties of treating troops working through substance-abuse issues linked to post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injuries.

“I felt like my hands were kind of tied,” said Capt. Scott Beam, Eckert’s case manager. “In my heart ... I knew I had done all I could have.”

Symborski said she tried to alert Eckert’s chain of command at the hospital that her son was dealing with symptoms of PTSD. He suffered nightmares, couldn’t handle loud noises and was angry. He told friends he was suicidal. He was abusing pain medications and alcohol.

Eckert was serving in Iraq in early 2007 when an IED blast killed his platoon sergeant and left him with a mild traumatic brain injury.

“He was getting worse by the week,” his mother said.

go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/military_methadone_032108w/

Do they take PTSD so lightly they think they can hand a combat veteran a bottle of pills and think he will only take what he is supposed to when he is supposed to? Do they know a thing about PTSD and short term memory loss when they forget what they are doing one minute from the next at times?