Madigan Army Medical Center doing damage control after PTSD denials

Army insists doctors at Madigan aren't told not to diagnose PTSD

The Army’s top medical officer this week rejected assertions that commanders are discouraging doctors at Madigan Army Medical Center from diagnosing soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder.

ADAM ASHTON; STAFF WRITER
Published: 02/09/12
The Army’s top medical officer this week rejected assertions that commanders are discouraging doctors at Madigan Army Medical Center from diagnosing soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Absolutely, the Army is not putting pressure on any of our clinicians,” said Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho in remarks to lawmakers in the House subcommittee on defense appropriations.

They were Horoho’s first public remarks on an investigation she launched to review discrepancies between initial PTSD diagnoses at Madigan and later conclusions reached by a forensic psychiatry team at the Army hospital south of Tacoma.

Officials at Walter Reed Army Medical Center are reviewing the cases of 14 soldiers who passed through Madigan with PTSD diagnoses only to have those results changed by the forensic team in such a way that the soldiers would receive less generous disability benefits in retirement. The review was first reported by The Seattle Times.

The Army has suspended the leader of the forensic psychiatry team, Dr. William Keppler, while it conducts its investigation.
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