Defense Dept. probes Marine mental health care

Defense Dept. probes Marine mental health care

By KEVIN MAURER
The Associated Press
Thursday, February 4, 2010; 2:15 PM

WILMINGTON, N.C. -- The Defense Department will investigate complaints of substandard mental health care for Marines at Camp Lejeune, according to a North Carolina congressman Thursday who had asked for the probe amid reports of retaliation against a whistleblower.

Public questions about the quality of mental health care provided by a private contractor at the base were raised last year by the September firing of Dr. Kernan Manion, a brain trauma specialist who had complained to commanders about poor facilities, inadequate care programs and weak security.

Rep. Walter Jones, a Republican whose district includes Camp Lejeune, asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates for a probe of the mental health care issue after Salon.com, which first reported Manion's firing, last week reported on documents it obtained that showed officials had changed Manion's job performance evaluations from good to bad after his complaints.

Manion, 59, has 25 years of experience as a psychiatrist with a specialty in traumatic brain injury, or TBI. Manion last year said he was fired for writing memos to his military superiors complaining of shoddy care for Marines returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

In e-mails shown to The Associated Press, Manion complained, among other things, that the military was not dealing with PTSD properly and that the hospital lacked security procedures in the event of a Fort Hood-like shooting.

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Defense Dept. probes Marine mental health care