Army hospital chief removed from post

[Phantom Blooper]

http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/pix07/weightman-george.jpg
Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman

Army hospital chief removed from post
By Andrew Gray
Reuters


WASHINGTON - The head of the U.S. Army's top hospital was removed from his post on Thursday after troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan were found to be living in shoddy conditions and struggling with a complex bureaucracy.

An Army statement said top officials had lost confidence in Maj. Gen. George Weightman's ability "to address needed solutions for soldier outpatient care" at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

"The care and welfare of our wounded men and women in uniform demand the highest standard of excellence and commitment that we can muster as a government," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.

"When this standard is not met, I will insist on swift and direct corrective action and, where appropriate, accountability up the chain of command," he said in a statement.

Problems at the hospital were brought to light by a Washington Post investigation published last month. It found that recuperating soldiers were living in a dilapidated building infested with mice, mold, and cockroaches.

The newspaper also found wounded troops forced to untangle a web of bureaucratic red tape to obtain benefits and treatment as they coped with physical and psychological trauma.

Government investigators found the typical soldier must file 22 documents with eight different commands to enter and exit the medical processing system, the Post reported.

The Army has said it already has fixed many of the problems with the substandard building and is working to improve its administrative procedures quickly.

REVIEW ORDERED

But Gates pledged last week that commanders would be held accountable for the failings at the hospital. He also ordered an independent review into outpatient care of wounded troops.

"Maj. Gen. Weightman was informed this morning that the senior Army leadership had lost trust and confidence in the commander's leadership abilities to address needed solutions for soldier-outpatient care," the Army statement said.

Several lower ranking people at the hospital have also been relieved of their duties, Gates said last week.

The Army said its surgeon-general, Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley, would take temporary command of Walter Reed.

President George W. Bush's administration has frequently praised U.S. troops for their sacrifices and insisted they will have the best possible treatment.

Outpatients at Walter Reed are largely troops who have received initial medical care but require further treatment before they can go home or return to duty. The average outpatient stay lasts 10 months, the Washington Post said.

More than 10,000 U.S. troops in the Iraq war have been wounded so seriously that they were not able to return to duty within 72 hours, according to Pentagon statistics. The figure for the war in Afghanistan is more than 600.

[thedrifter]

Walter Reed chief fired; critics say more must go <br />
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By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer <br />
Posted : Friday Mar 2, 2007 14:14:25 EST <br />
<br />
When the Army’s top medical officer, Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley, fired Maj....

[thedrifter]

Walter Reed chief

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Mar 2, 2007 18:51:46 EST

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has subpoenaed Maj. Gen. George Weightman, who was fired as head of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, after Army officials refused to allow him to testify before the committee Monday.

Committee Chairman Henry Waxman and subcommittee Chairman John Tierney asked Weightman to testify about an internal memo that showed privatization of services at Walter Reed could put “patient care services… at risk of mission failure.”

But Army officials refused to allow Weightman to appear before the committee after he was relieved of command.

“The Army was unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for the decision to prevent General Weightman from testifying,” committee members said in a statement today.

The committee wants to learn more about a letter written in September by Garrison Commander Peter Garibaldi to Weightman.

The memorandum “describes how the Army’s decision to privatize support services at Walter Reed Army Medical Center was causing an exodus of ‘highly skilled and experienced personnel,’” the committee’s letter states. “According to multiple sources, the decision to privatize support services at Walter Reed led to a precipitous drop in support personnel at Walter Reed.”

The letter said Walter Reed also awarded a five-year, $120-million contract to IAP Worldwide Services, which is run by Al Neffgen, a former senior Halliburton official.

They also found that more than 300 federal employees providing facilities management services at Walter Reed had drooped to fewer than 60 by Feb. 3, 2007, the day before IAP took over facilities management. IAP replaced the remaining 60 employees with only 50 private workers.

“The conditions that have been described at Walter Reed are disgraceful,” the letter states. “Part of our mission on the Oversight Committee is to investigate what led to the breakdown in services. It would be reprehensible if the deplorable conditions were caused or aggravated by an ideological commitment to privatize government services regardless of the costs to taxpayers and the consequences for wounded soldiers.”

The letter said the Defense Department “systemically” tried to replace federal workers at Walter Reed with private companies for facilities management, patient care and guard duty – a process that began in 2000.

“But the push to privatize support services there accelerated under President Bush’s ‘competitive sourcing’ initiative, which was launched in 2002,” the letter states.

During the year between awarding the contract to IAP and when the company started, “skilled government workers apparently began leaving Walter Reed in droves,” the letter states. “The memorandum also indicates that officials at the highest levels of Walter Reed and the U.S. Army Medical Command were informed about the dangers of privatization, but appeared to do little to prevent them.”

The memo signed by Garibaldi requests more federal employees because the hospital mission had grown “significantly” during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It states that medical command did not concur with their request for more people.

“Without favorable consideration of these requests,” Garibaldi wrote, “[Walter Reed Army Medical Center] Base Operations and patient care services are at risk of mission failure.”

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Official: Gates fired Army secretary

By William H. McMichael and Gina Cavallaro - Staff writers
Posted : Friday Mar 2, 2007 19:08:18 EST

Francis Harvey, caught under the giant shadow cast by the controversy over outpatient care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, resigned today as secretary of the Army, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced Friday afternoon at the Pentagon.

“Earlier today, Secretary of the Army Dr. Fran Harvey offered his resignation,” Gates said during a brief press conference. “I have accepted his resignation.”

Gates took no questions at the press conference, but two senior defense officials did not deny that Gates had asked Harvey to resign.

“I am disappointed that some in the Army have not adequately appreciated the seriousness of the situation pertaining to outpatient care at Walter Reed,” Gates told reporters. “Some have shown too much defensiveness and have not shown enough focus on digging into and addressing the problems.”

Army Undersecretary Pete Geren will serve as acting secretary until a new secretary is nominated and confirmed.

The Army also announced that Maj. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker will become the new commanding general of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Schoomaker, now the commanding general of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command at Fort Detrick, Md., is the brother of Army chief of staff Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, who is retiring in April.

Schoomaker replaces Army Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, who Harvey fired Thursday. According to a statement released by the Army, service leaders had “lost trust and confidence” in Weightman’s ability “to address needed solutions for soldier outpatient care.”

In announcing Harvey’s resignation, Gates said he was concerned “that some do not properly understand the need to communicate to the wounded and their families that we have no higher priority than their care. And that addressing their concerns about the quality of their outpatient experience is critically important. Our wounded soldiers and their families have sacrificed much and they deserve the best we can offer.

“Finally, I want to reaffirm my confidence in the staff at Walter Reed and their professionalism and dedication to providing caring treatment. From what I have learned, the problems at Walter Reed appear to be problems of leadership. The Walter Reed doctors, nurses and other staff are among the best and most caring in the world. They deserve our continued deepest thanks and strongest support.”

Despite his announcement to step down, Harvey will make his scheduled trip tomorrow to Fort Benning, Ga., to meet with deploying troops from the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, said post spokesman Monica Manganaro. However, he has canceled the related press availability tomorrow, she said.

President Bush is scheduled to address the nation at 10 a.m. Saturday on the Walter Reed controversy, among other topics.

One analyst called the departure surprising and regrettable.

“It’s a tragedy that the Army is losing the best secretary it has had in modern times,” said Loren Thompson, defense analyst for the Lexington Instititute. “Harvey was good at understanding the challenges of modernizing the services and reconciling the demands of near-term readiness with long-term preparedness. I also think he was especially good at explaining the Army’s needs to members of Congress and others who do not make the military their life’s work.”

Thompson called Harvey “the most focused, the most articulate and the most engaging secretary I can recall ever leading the service,” adding, “I think the big loser here won’t be Secretary Harvey but the Army.”

Army undersecretary Pete Geren will act as Army secretaray until Harvey’s formal replacement is confirmed. Harvey was sworn in as the 19th U.S. Army secretary in November 2004.

Staff writer Kris Osborn contributed to this story.


Ellie