AFFIDAVIT
Little Rock AFB, AR. USAF Hospital. Dr. Denise Kirkland. Internal medicine physician who entered the
Air Force out of private practice. Alleges unwarranted letters of reprimand,
letters of counseling, unfavorable information file, referral of officer
performance reports, loss of physician bonus, loss of a retroactive promotion
to major, and commander directed psychiatric evaluation for identifying
substandard care at the USAF Hospital, Little Rock. She filed suit in Federal Court for a Writ of Habeas Corpus relating
to her contract. Judge dismissed the case because she did not appeal to the
AFBCMR even though the law did not require it.
She appealed to the AFBCMR to resign her contract and was denied. An appeal was filed in Federal Court and was
also denied. She was recently accused
of refusing to treat or care for a critically ill patient while her, Dr.
Kirkland's, dominant hand was in a cast.
Her privileges were suspended without a hearing and she was given an
Article 15. She refused the Article 15
and demanded a trial by court-martial.
The trial is set for September 9, 1991, at Little Rock AFB, AR. Her husband, David, has made contact with
ABC News Prime Time, Newsweek, Time, U.S. News, New Physician, U.S.
Medicine,American Medical News, New York Times, and The Washington Post. David spoke with Mr. Upschulte from Senator
John Glenn’s office and Upschulte told him that his wife could file a Federal
Tort Claim for slander and libel.
Upschulte also said that any military member can have court-martial
charges brought against another member, regardless of rank or position, if they
go through their major command and can prove the allegations.
"A Current Affair" showed
Representative Barbara Boxer discussing this case. Dr. Kirkland won her case against her Air Force accuser. She has left the Air Force. Morgan Welsh, LL.B. attorney for Dr. Denise
Kirkland, 501- 376-9900. 620 West 3rd
street, suite 100, 3685 Little Rock,
Arkansas 72203. Fax: 501-376-3724.
Dr.
Voge's SWORN STATEMENT: Eugene Fidell, LL.B. is Dr. Voge's attorney: 202-466-8960.
I was a "rising star" in the
Navy's flight surgeon program until I was assigned as the only medical officer
at the Navy's Safety Center in 1978. The
mission of my particular office was to analyze aircraft mishaps to determine
medical/physiological/psychological causes and contributing causes. At that
time, alcohol, drugs, fatigue, circadian rhythm problems and the like, although
very prevalent causes and contributing causes of aircraft mishaps, were not
officially accepted. The line admiral
for whom I worked at the Safety Center was very safety conscious. He endorsed our findings of alcohol, drug,
fatigue, circadian rhythm and other medical problems as causes/contributing
causes of aircraft mishaps. Our
findings were widely published. The Navy hierarchy, both medical and line,
became very upset. My admiral was
forced to retire (fired) and I was sent to Guam for"final
disposition". Soon after arriving on Guam, I was found to have serious
paranoid personality problems (the examining psychiatrist later told me he was
ordered by the hospital commanding officer to make that diagnosis, and the
Commanding Officer was ordered to do so by the Bureau of Medicine and
Surgery. The hospital commanding
officer apparently was promised he'd be made admiral if he were to
cooperate). Since the examining
psychiatrist had a"twinge" of conscious/medical ethics, he referred
me to Balboa Naval Hospital Psychiatry Department for final diagnosis and
disposition. The then Commanding
Officer of Balboa Hospital was very much involved in the character
assassinations from the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery I endured at the Safety
Center and assured all he would "take care of" me. After 24 days on a "locked"
psychiatric ward, with no facilities for either females or officers, I was
declared not to have a psychiatric diagnosis.
(Before leaving Guam for incarceration at Balboa Hospital, I had secured
a promise from a line admiral on Guam, who was unaware of what was going on in
Washington, that, if I were not happy with Naval Hospital Balboa's psychiatric
evaluation, he would ensure I would be re-evaluated by an Army or Air Force
hospital. I repeatedly reminded my Balboa Hospital captors of this promise.) I
then returned to Guam. My Guam hospital
commanding officer was extremely upset with the Balboa Hospital psychiatric
results and said he'd "look into" it. He apparently communicated with Washington and, within one week
of my returning to Guam, I was decredentialed.
The procedures to do so were not legal and did not follow Navy written
policy. I was to be sent to Naval
Hospital, Balboa, for "retraining."
I was told I would not "survive" the training program. (If one who has been decredentialed is not
"trainable", the physician is separated from the Navy.) I was openly informed my "career (was
being) ruined" since I was not a "team player". I was encouraged to "save everyone the
trouble" and resign my commission.
Being basically very naive and believing in the "American
Way", I chose to fight back. I
filed Article 138 of the UCMJ complaints against my Commanding Officer (my only
method of redress in the Navy). I also
had the presence of mind to call a Congressman who arranged for me to be
evaluated by the Air Force, at Wilford Hall Medical Center and the U.S. Air
Force School of Aviation Medicine. The
Navy was livid. The Air Force found no
problems with my clinical capabilities and found no problem with the treatment
I gave my patients on Guam (the treatment which was supposedly so bad I was
decredentialed.) I have not heard
another word from the Navy about my clinical competence since that time. My legal counsel has maintained I will never
have my record cleared by Navy officials, in spite of the fact the voluminous
documentation we obtained through the Freedom of Information Act clearly
demonstrates the Navy purposely dirtied my records and lied about my clinical
competence and psychiatric fitness. I
was advised I would probably win if I were to go to Federal Court, but that the
Navy would "make (my) life miserable" and try to force me out in the
interim. I first had to go through all
the legal"hoops" in the Navy for redress before I could go to Federal
Court. The process has thus far gone on since mid-1982, and has cost me close
to $100,000.00 of my personal funds. My
case is still pending in Federal Court.
The Navy is attempting to prolong the situation as long as possible,
apparently hoping I will either run out of funds or desire, and give up the
fight. Every commanding officer of each
subsequent duty station I have been assigned to since Guam has assured me he
had "heard all about" me.
Each Commander has been more revengeful and vicious than the last. I have been asked on several occasions why l
don't just "save the Navy the trouble and leave". I have had to endure two more
psychiatric"evaluations". The
Navy cannot understand why I choose to fight back, as no one else does so. I have only survived this long through
Congressional intervention. I will not
leave the Navy voluntarily until my fraudulent record is cleansed. As it is now, every state medical license I
apply for, every hospital to which I apply for staff privileges, and every time
I apply formal practice insurance, I must say I have been decredentialed and
have been an inpatient in a psychiatric hospital. I refuse to leave the Navy with such a fraudulent record.
V.M. Voge, CDR, MC, USN
Rt. 3, Box 73
Gonzales, Texas 78629
21 October 1991
Reprisal: Reporting Pay Fraud Earns 21 Days On Psych
Ward Michael Tufariello
Chief Petty Officer Michael Tufariello (972-492-0464) reports that 600
Reservists were paid even though they never reported for weekend duty, Dallas
Naval Air Station. He eventually
received a letter of thanks and of apology, but not before he was imprisoned in
reprisal for 21 days on a psychiatry ward at Shepard Air Force Base. Does this inter-service cooperation mean
there is a military American Gulag? He
knows of 700 cases of abuse of military psychiatry, and states that because
protective laws are little known, they are rarely enforced. She testified before Congress on 19 November
1987 and on 24 March 1988. He has
appeared on television ("A Current Affair" and "Nightline")
and been interviewed by Steven McGonigle, Dallas Morning News
(800-431-0010). His case is known to
Senator Barbara Boxer, who champions correction of such human rights
violations. She described his treatment
at the hands of his government as "un-American," and sponsored
corrective legislation which he states was revised in 1993. He testified before Congressional committees
twice: 19 November 1987 and 24 March 1988.
The Senator's aide, Mr. Sean Moore, 202-224-3353, is well-versed in
these issues.
Where were the doctors' ethics when Chief Tufariello was recommended by
his commander for psychiatric hospitalization?
Why didn't the military doctor simply refuse to hospitalize him after
finding him healthy? Would the doctor
have been similarly treated had he refused to imprison Chief Tufariello? Who was the doctor? Has he read The Nazi Doctors, by Dr. Robert
Jay Lifton? What means (e.g. ON CALL)
of immediate medical-legal assistance, could be made available for doctors
caught in such a moral dilemma?