EXCERPT
Editor
Tacoma, Washington
11 May 1998
Dear Editor:
………Several months after my abrupt
departure from LARMC in 1996, another LARMC case, the "death of Baby V
case," was reported as a complaint to the offices of LTG Blanck and
Congressman Henry Hyde. The complaint and related information, which I have
seen, describe a situation at LARMC in which Baby V's father, who was a
military doctor, did not want to have a child with a birth defect and sought
LARMC permission to allow his yet unborn child to die without treatment.
According to the complaint, the baby's father gave a LARMC ethics committee
misleading prenatal information and, when the ethics committee was unable to
reach a unanimous decision, COL (P) Kiley reportedly made a command decision,
before the child was even born, to allow the father, a military doctor, to
withhold treatment once the child was born.
When born, Baby V had a
condition (meningomyelocele) that is easily repairable by remedial surgery, but
often fatal if not repaired. The baby was allowed to leave the hospital without
corrective surgery and died of meningitis within 2 weeks. Two families had
reportedly offered to adopt the infant in order to save her life, but this
offer was reportedly refused. COL (P) Kiley's decision, made before Baby V's
birth, created a situation that apparently permitted Baby V's death. The circumstances
surrounding Baby V's birth and death need to be investigated.
The three cases (Dr. T, the
February 1996 LARMC Inspector General case, and Baby V) show repeated
endangerment of patient welfare under one Army Medical Center Commander, who
should be required to account for his own role in the events described. Both of
my Army Medical Corps Residencies-Emergency Medicine at Madigan Army Medical
Center (where I have returned) and Internal Medicine at Eisenhower Army Medical
Center-have taught me to uphold the standard of care for the patient's welfare.
Neither of these centers would tolerate retaliatory actions against physicians
and nurses that endangered patient care……..
………Over two years have passed
since I originally reported these problems and was confined to a psychiatric
ward after doing so. The quality and integrity of the Army medical system are
vital to the taxpayers who support it, to the parents who entrust their sons
and daughters to it, and to the men and women in uniform who must rely on it.
Congress must act if the Army is unwilling or unable to do so.
Thank you for your attention.
Respectfully,
Stephen Whitlock Smith, MD
Fellow, American College of Emergency Physicians
Fellow, American College of
Physicians
Lieutenant Colonel, US Army
Medical Corps
Steilacoom, WA 98388
Cc:Lieutenant General Ronald Blanck, Army Surgeon
General
Brigadier
General George Brown, MAMC Commander
Madigan
Army Medical Center Public Affairs Office
Representatives Dicks, McDermott, Pelosi, Spence
Senators Boxer, Feinstein, Thurmond
For Record