For the Ortiz family, a scheduled Cesarean section delivery at a military treatment facility was supposed to go smoothly. Somehow, medication that was properly documented as an allergy was given to Air Force Capt. Heather Ortiz and it resulted in an unexpected antihistamine dose to counteract the allergy. That deprived her daughter, Isabella of oxygen when her blood pressure went down to troubling levels.
Now, 6-year-old Isabella suffers from brain and nerve damage that is directly related to her birth. Isabella will have to endure special treatment for the rest of her life and her parents have valid concerns with all the financial responsibilities that will and have been coming their way. That’s why Isabella’s father filed a lawsuit against the Army hospital.
Unfortunately for the Ortiz family, there is a doctrine in place that keeps service members from suing the government for medical malpractice.
It’s called the Feres doctrine. According to the Cornell University Law School website, the Feres doctrine
prevents people who are injured as a result of military service from successfully suing the federal government under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
It was enacted in 1950 and since then the Feres doctrine has stopped countless military medical malpractice cases in its tracks.
Do you think service member should be able to sue for medical malpractice?
The Ortiz family and supporters recently pushed their medical malpractice case to the Supreme Court. An Air Force Times article reported that the original petition was filed on October 13 and it currently has a 30-day extension from the initial December 18 deadline to respond.
Military medical malpractice has a long history since the Feres doctrine was formed and was actually the reason it was enacted in the first place. In recent years, the unfairness of the doctrine is becoming more evident. A similar case in 2011 was never heard by the Supreme Court after months of waiting. After what was supposed to be a routine appendectomy, left Staff Sgt. Dean Witt in a vegetative state. Medical malpractice was the culprit because the hospital utilized improper gear and gave him harsh treatment, according to his legal petition.
In my opinion, it doesn’t even make sense, especially for the Ortiz and Witt medical malpractice cases. That’s the tip of the iceberg because there are so many other medical malpractice cases out there that would benefit from reform.
The Ortiz family argues that the use of the Feres doctrine to military children is unfair because they have never worn a uniform. Their daughter wasn’t injured as a result of being in the military. Isabella is a military child, not a service member.
The medical malpractice problem for military families isn’t black and white.
In fact, I think the process is so convoluted, I welcome you to read further about the messiness from a piece in the Atlantic.
All in all, I believe a change is needed to protect our military families. If the Supreme Court hears the Ortiz medical malpractice case, it would be followed by many more cases.
What should we do? We could encourage Congress to step in.
Luckily, there are lots of advocates out there lobbying to reform or amend the doctrine like the American Legion, the National Organization for Women and a handful of members of Congress. With that said, we could all contact our congress members to show our support for military families that have endured medical malpractice.
It is hard to say whether military healthcare should be held liable as it is similar to free universal healthcare in the UK and the rest of Europe. The military members pay nothing for healthcare as it is a given benefit. During my enlistment whenever I needed healthcare I paid nothing except for a 4 day stay in the hospital during which I was charged $50. Possibly Mrs. Ortiz should maybe have gone to and paid for the superior treatment in a local civilian hospital if she was in the US. Sure the cost might have been alot more than the $50 or so dollars but the care would have been backed by liability insurance had something gone wrong during that C-Section. This whole tragic incident makes me think of my friend James who was born in a British military hospital in Kuala Lumpar over 53 years ago. Due to poor medical care he has Cerebral Palsy, is unable to find decent employment and has a lifetime of health issues. He also, has no way to sue the hospital due to malpractice as the care was free of charge to his parents.
Cathy, Are you kidding me? They hardly make any money as it is and you expect the members and their dependents to pay more so that they can get better health care? Why should they have to do that? What is your justification for stating such a ridiculous option? The enlisted is giving their life in combat and the spouse is giving their lives for the enlisted’s career and they shouldn’t expect the best healthcare possible? It’s not free either… What is free about anything in the military? Nothing…the life of the member for crappy benefits? SMH
I’m not kidding. Numerous Americans who work minimum wage at places like McDonald’s and Walmart are expected to purchase their own health insurance and those poor people happen to make less than your average E-1 in the military and get less desirable benefits. Those minimum wage jobs do not offer childcare centers, special lower cost stores (PX) priveleges, space-A travel and extra money for families. Those who work at those thankless jobs need to pay for health insurance. The civilian health insurance may have malpractice coverage but costs over half of what those working in those places make per month. In many cases that is why some of those minimum wage employees are on food stamps and other forms of help to get by. Still they get the insurance. Since the members of the military seem to be getting what is subquality insurance maybe they should do the same. If they did so they would still be on top in pay and benefits than their civilian counterparts who makes minimum wage at a fastfood place or Walmart.
Absolutely!
We put our lives and those of our family members in the hands of those who are supposed to be professionals.
It’s no secret to military members and spouses and children, that we are often used as guinea pigs by “doctors” who couldn’t make it in the real world of medicine.
I’ve experienced it and also been witness to it happening to others, therefore, it’s about time that our Congressional leaders do something about the many cases of malpractice that has occurred over the years in the Armed Forces.
I’m all for the right to sue because of botched up medical care.
Now that I am out of the military I have access to VA Healthcare but a few years ago I got health insurance so I could use a civilian hospital or doctor incase I needed surgery or any invasive medical tests. The free care from the VA is okay if I am getting immunizations or simple preventive care but if I need a hospital stay I’d rather go to a good civilian hospital outside the VA system. If I was still in the military I would get a good civilian health insurance policy now and find an outside doctors well. The only reason I would not do this would be if I was stationed overseas someplace. Maybe the best solution to this issue would be if civilian health insurance was offered to all those stationed in the USA.
Every Feres post which I see makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. The situation is much worse than what reaches the newspapers. I personally lost over $40,000 when (then) Army Captain Matthew Fitzgerald threatened me to do something totally against US Army regulations which he was aware. This was solely for his own self-serving and career enhancing reasons as flaunted on his annual evaluation. First I reported this to his Army lawyer superiors and one of his admittedly personal friends did the faux “investigation.” His licensing state bar said anyone else would have been disbarred for what he did. I tried to take him to court but could not even literally get my foot in the door because of Feres. Fact is the district court judge did not even read my case – one of his clerks did a cut-and-paste and it was all dismissed. Things need to change. Go to Facebook under “Feres Doctrine” and see the timeline.