Investigation clears Madigan's forensic psychiatrists of PTSD wrongdoing
by MEG COYLE / KING 5 News
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 6:28 PM
Updated yesterday at 6:41 PM
LAKEWOOD, Wash. -- They've been suspended from their jobs, their medical ethics questioned. They've even been subjected to death threats. All because Madigan's forensic psychiatrists reversed several PTSD diagnoses.
Those same doctors have reportedly been cleared in the first of three separate investigations.
Questions surrounded 17 cases in particular, and whether doctors deliberately lowered the number of PTSD cases to save the government money. Wednesday, the Army Surgeon General came under fire once again for the scandal.
On Capitol Hill today, Lieutenant General Patricia Hororo told a congressional subcommittee the army is reevaluating how it diagnoses soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder.
"We're looking at everywhere we have variance and we're looking at how we can decrease that variance and be able to ensure we have one standard across army medicine," she said.
Doctors at Madigan first came under fire earlier this year when it was revealed 17 soldiers initially diagnosed with PTSD were told they didn't have the condition afterall-- changes made when Madigan's forensic psychiatric team reviewed their cases.
Army Specialist Jared Enger says doctors were already treating his PTSD when he was told his diagnosis had been reversed by Madigan's forensic psychiatristic team. "Talking to a doctor on the phone trying to dispute the fact I didn't have PTSD while I was in an inpatient program for PTSD," recalls Enger.
But in at least one investigation--those same doctors appear to have been cleared.
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Sen. Murray questions Army Surgeon General about PTSD diagnoses at Madigan
The Joint Base Lewis-McChord medical center is under investigation
Web reporter
Q13 FOX News Online
7:08 p.m. PDT, March 28, 2012
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., on Wednesday questioned the policies surrounding post-traumatic stress disorder diagnoses at Madigan Medical Center at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
Murray, chairwoman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee and a senior member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, questioned Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho, the Army Surgeon General.
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We won't know all the details until all these investigations are completed (and maybe not even then) but I think it's important to not jump to conclusions. For example, did the forensic psychiatrists "take away" the soldiers' PTSD diagnoses or was it possible that they were misdiagnosed in the first place? I certainly don't know the answer but I don't think we should assume that the forensic psychiatrists were wrong to arrive at a different diagnosis than the treating clinicians.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the comment. You are right about jumping to conclusions and that is the way I felt when I posted this story. I thought it was important to be fair since there have been so many terrible stories on Madigan.
ReplyDeleteThe DOD has discharged way too many under Personality Disorders, so this story doesn't really pass the "smell" test either. I do hope someday we know the answers too.