Psychiatrist claims Marines getting shoddy care at Camp Lejeune

Do you believe him? I do. I've talked to enough Marines over the years to know they are supposed to be able to "train their brains" even more than soldiers are supposed to be able to. Having a Marine cry on my shoulder and feel it was necessary to apologize to me for doing it because as he put it, "I'm a Marine!" shows how little they have been doing to get them to understand it has nothing to do with being weak.

I also think it is horrible that this doctor is no longer there because he cared too much yet Maj. Hasan was kept on no matter how badly he did.

Dr. Kernan Manion poses for a photograph in his officer in Hampstead, N.C., Friday, Nov. 20, 2008. Dr. Manion a psychiatrist was fired after he complained about conditions for his patients at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., In e-mails shown to The Associated Press, Manion had questioned why the clinic, a series of bug-infested trailers with paper-thin walls, was located near a firing range on the 240-square-mile base. (AP Photo/Jim R. Bounds) (Jim R. Bounds, AP / November 20, 2009)

Fired psychiatrist says Marines suffering from stress are getting shoddy care at Camp Lejeune
KEVIN MAURER

Associated Press Writer

5:59 p.m. EST, November 20, 2009
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (AP) — Marines treated at Camp Lejeune for post-traumatic stress had to undergo therapy for months in temporary trailers where they could hear bomb blasts, machine-gun fire and war cries through the thin walls, according to servicemen and their former psychiatrist.

The eight trailers were used for nearly two years, until a permanent clinic was completed in September in another location on the base, said a Camp Lejeune medical spokesman, Navy Lt. j.g. Mark Jean-Pierre.

The noise from training exercises "shook me up real bad. I couldn't take it. I almost ran out of there a couple of times," said a Marine patient who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to the media. "My mind couldn't focus on the treatment. I couldn't tell the difference between the combat zone and the non-combat zone."

The allegations became public after the dismissal of Dr. Kernan Manion, a civilian psychiatrist who says he was fired for writing memos to his military superiors complaining of shoddy care of Marines returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with PTSD, a condition that can make patients jumpy, fearful of loud noises and prone to flashbacks.

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http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/sns-ap-us-marines-mental-health,0,198116.story