Army Medical Chief Forced Out in Walter Reed Scandal

[thedrifter]

Army Medical Chief Forced Out in Walter Reed Scandal (Update4) <br />
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By Tony Capaccio and Ken Fireman <br />
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March 12 (Bloomberg) -- Lieutenant General Kevin Kiley, the U.S. Army's surgeon general, was...

[thedrifter]

Army Surgeon General puts in for retirement

Staff report
Posted : Monday Mar 12, 2007 17:14:58 EDT

The Army Surgeon General has resigned his post, the end of yet another high-level career brought about by the still-expanding scandal over shoddy care for wounded troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley, Army Surgeon General and commander of the Army Medical Command, submitted a retirement request Sunday to Acting Secretary of the Army Pete Geren.

Geren announced Kiley’s request during a speech intended to lift the spirits of the staff at Walter Reed Monday.

Maj. Gen. Gale Pollock, current deputy surgeon general, immediately assumed the surgeon general’s duties.

“I submitted my retirement because I think it is in the best interest of the Army,” Kiley said in a statement released by the Army.

Kiley said he wanted to allow Geren, Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker and the leaders of the Army Medical Command “to focus completely on the way ahead and the Army Action Plan to improve all aspects of soldier care. We are an Army Medical Department at war, supporting an Army at war — it shouldn’t be and it isn’t about one doctor.”

Geren ordered an immediate convening of the required advisory board to recommend a slate of candidates from among officers in the Army Medical Department for consideration as Kiley’s replacement, according to an Army press release. The board likely will convene in April. Final approval for the position must come from President Bush.

At Walter Reed Monday, Geren described a public “angered and disappointed” by the treatment of outpatient soldiers at the hospital, even as he recognized the “selfless service” of the staff there.

“I know you share their anger and their disappointment,” Geren told the audience of about 250 doctors, administrative officers and health care workers.

He said the problems of bad facilities and leadership failure highlighted other issues.

“Our disability system … has become a maze: overly bureaucratic, sometimes unresponsive, and needlessly complex,” he said. “A soldier who fights the battle should not have to come home and fight the battle of bureaucracy.”

At that, much of the audience broke into applause.

Geren outlined plans for change, said the Army Inspector General report has been personally handed to Schoomaker, and then announced the changes in staff for the new Wounded Warrior Brigade.

“I share in your conviction that we will do whatever it takes to get it right,” Geren said. “We will accept nothing but the best that our Army and nation can provide on their behalf.”

On Friday, Army Secretary Francis Harvey formally stepped down after his resignation was submitted under pressure from Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Harvey on March 1 fired Maj. Gen. George Weightman as commander of Walter Reed. The Army appointed Maj. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, brother of Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker, to replace Weightman.

“He left our Army better than he found it,” Geren said of Harvey. “The true test of an effective leader.”

Weightman’s sacking brought criticism by those who noted he had been in the job for little more than six months and saw him as a scapegoat for others more responsible for the dilapidated conditions that medical-hold troops were forced to endure living in Building 18 while awaiting medical care and processing for related benefits. Kiley, they pointed out, commanded Walter Reed from 2002 to 2004 and, as surgeon general, lived across the street from Building 18.

His performance before the media and Congress raised further concerns that he was insensitive to the issues the wounded troops faced and out of touch. At one hearing, he told lawmakers: “I don’t do barracks inspections at Walter Reed.”

His defenders portrayed him as a top-notch doctor and administrator who cared deeply about patients at Walter Reed.

“It has been my honor and my privilege to serve this nation and her soldiers for over thirty years,” Kiley said in the statement. “I could not be prouder of the incredible Americans in the Army Medical Command who care for the warriors who have volunteered and sacrificed so much to defend our country and our way of life. I was blessed to have walked among them.”

Maj. Gen. Gale Pollock became the Army’s deputy surgeon general in October 2006. She received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Maryland. She attended the U.S. Army Nurse Anesthesia Program and is a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist.

She received her Master of Business Administration from Boston University; a Master’s in Healthcare Administration from Baylor University, a Master’s in National Security and Strategy from the National Defense University, and an honorary Doctorate of Public Service from the University of Maryland. She is also a Fellow in The American College of Healthcare Executives

Ellie